Justin Hull breaks free on a night he produced six rushing touchdowns. (Photo by Shelly Evilsizor)
Constantine got back to its winning ways a week after dropping a highly contested contest against rival Schoolcraft. The Falcons returned home Friday and picked Kalamazoo Valley Association opponent Maple Valley apart for a 56-28 victory.
Or perhaps trampled is a better description. Constantine junior running back Justin Hull ran nearly a quarter mile with the ball, finishing with an eye-popping 353 yards and six touchdowns on just 15 carries (23.53 per take). Sophomore quarterback Matt Hasbrouck (120 yards, TD), junior running back Taylor Reiff (71 yards, TD) were some of the other Falcons that got in on the ground gala.
See full box score here.
When the smoke cleared, Constantine outgained Maple Valley 620-422. That his team gave up a good chunk of yards was somewhat of a concern for Falcons coach Shawn Griffith. Still, he said, he’ll take the win and move on to Week 4 with a 2-1 record.
“I have to give Maple Valley’s kids credit,” Griffith said. “They didn’t quit. They had a little over 300 yards passing and we’re back to the drawing board trying to figure some things out, trying to figure out some things on defense. But you can’t complain when you get a win. It was good to get back on the winning side of things. We’re looking for a heck of a battle next week with what we think is a pretty talented Parchment club.”
Maple Valley’s Beau Johnson completed 11 of 21 passing attempts for 318 yards and four scores. Anthony Mahler and Austin Gonser each caught two TD passes.
Constantine got out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Maple Valley made things interesting before halftime, scoring from 21 yards out on a completion from Johnson to Gonser, followed by a successful 2-point conversion attempt.
That was before Hull got warmed up and blasted down the field for an 80-yard touchdown in the third quarter — the first of four Constantine strikes in the third stanza. He added scoring runs of 17 and 48 later in the third quarter.
“We kind of got off to a little bit of a sluggish start tonight,” Griffith said. “We lost the opening kickoff on an onside kick that I doubt was even an onside kick. Once we did get the ball, we were stopped on downs.
“We had some big plays, which is really what the story was of the night. Justin Hull … it was all on big plays. Matt Hasbrouck had a couple long runs as well. Taylor Reiff turned in a long one of his own.”
Eric Petoskey finished with a team-high 12 tackles, trailed by Spencer Tefft (11) and Luhk Mullendore (11). All three registered a sack.