HAMBURG — Hamburg’s Ignacio “Iggy” Reynoso ran over, around and through Fleetwood’s defense for five touchdowns and 219 total yards in the underdog Hawks’ 55-26 big homecoming victory over the Tigers in a Berks Section I contest Friday on Hawk Hill.
And Reynoso had plenty of help.
Hawks quarterback Nick Kuhn had an outstanding night, completing 11-of-14 passes for 222 yards and two scores. He added two rushing touchdowns.
“Nick was very composed tonight,” Hamburg’s coach Damian Buggy said. “You could tell in warmups he had command of the whole team. We had a really good focus coming in, a really good week of practice and Nick was definitely one of the leaders in that.”
The Hamburg offensive line, which featured some personnel changes to add some size and to get more athletes on the field after a tough week last week against Northern Lebanon, cleared gaping holes. Hamburg finished the game rushing for 192 yards and six rushing touchdowns.
The Hawks’ defense played its part, too.
Hamburg (2-2, 1-0 Berks II) held the Tigers (1-3, 0-1), who had been averaging about 40 points a game, to 26 points, got interceptions from Jordan McAllister and Matt James, made a couple of important stands to stop drives and got constant pressure on talented Tigers quarterback Luke Emge.
Reynoso’s five touchdowns tied the Hamburg single-game scoring record. He ran for three scores covering 33, 11 and two yards, and finished the game with 102 yards rushing on 16 carries.
Reynoso also caught four passes for 117 yards from Kuhn, including TDs of 58 and 18 yards.
“He is a good athlete, no doubt,” Buggy said. “I think he’s stronger than he is faster, but we have to keep on remembering he’s only a sophomore. We’ll just keep on going from here.”
The first key moment in the game came with just under a minute left in the first half and Fleetwood just scored to take a 20-14 lead.
Kuhn drove the Hawks 68 yards in 50 seconds and scored on a 1-yard run. Aaron Nelson’s extra point — he converted six in the game and scored a TD himself on a 29-yard run to cap the scoring — made it 21-20 Hamburg and Buggy said it gave the Hawks confidence going into the half.
The Hawks’ defense held the Tigers to one score in the second half and Reynoso took care of the rest, scoring four touchdowns, three in the decisive third quarter when Hamburg took a 41-26 lead.
The fourth quarter belonged to Hamburg, too, as it added 14 points on Reynoso’s final score and Nelson’s run, while the defense pitched a shutout.
“There’s a huge difference in going 1 and 3 and 2 and 2, especially at the point of the season we’re at,” Buggy said.
“This was kind of a fork in the road game, in which way is the season going to go, and hopefully we turned that corner and we’re heading in the right direction.”
Game Summary
Flet (2-2, 0-1) 7 13 6 0 — 26
Ham (2-2, 1-0) 7 14 20 14 — 55
H — Reynoso 58 pass from
N. Kuhn (Nelson kick)
F — Lerch 28 pass from Emge (Hook kick)
F — Lerch 13 run (Hook kick)
H — N. Kuhn 1 run (Nelson kick)
F — Emge 1 run (kick failed)
H — N. Kuhn 1 run (Nelson kick)
H — Reynoso 33 run (Nelson kick)
H — Reynoso 11 run (Nelson kick)
H — Reynoso 2 run (run failed)
F — Lerch 70 pass from Emge (pass failed)
H — Reynoso 18 pass from N. Kuhn (Nelson kick)
H — Nelson 29 run (Nelson kick)
Flet Ham
First Downs 15 17
Rushes-Yards 42-155 37-192
Passes 12-22-2 11-14-0
Passing Yards 212 222
Total Yards 367 414
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-1
Penalties 6-57 8-60
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Fleetwood — Emge 14-80, Lerch 20-76, Dewald 5-14, Strunk 1-(-2), Jocsak 2-(-13). Hamburg — Reynoso 16-102, Nelson 3-29, Ruiz 2-20, McAllister 4-13, N. Kuhn 6-11, L. Herber 2-9, Madara 3-6, Bender 1-2.
PASSING: Fleetwood — Emge 10-19-2, 170, Jocsak 2-3-0, 42. Hamburg — N. Kuhn 11-14-0, 222.
RECEIVING: Fleetwood — Lerch 3-102, Hummel 2-42, Strunk 3-29, Pellock 1-22, Ferreira 1-10, Wilkinson 2-7. Hamburg — Reynoso 4-117, Payne 3-54, Nelson 3-42, Ruiz 1-9.
INTERCEPTIONS: Hamburg — McAllister, James.