GameNight: Pride fall, 42-0, to Hamilton after nightmare 1st quarter

Chandler Hamilton junior receiver Ethan Kipili'i claims he didn't need redemption.

He got it anyway. Twice.

After the Huskies' wideout saw his 90-plus yard return for a touchdown on the game's opening kickoff wiped out due to a holding call, Kipili'i answered quickly, hauling in two first quarter touchdown receptions to put away the visiting Mountain Pointe football team, just like that.

Hamilton (5-1) rolled, 42-0, over the visiting Pride, thanks in part to the connection of Kipili'i and senior quarterback Zakary Hambsch, who paired up for scoring strikes of 36 and 31 yards just 10 seconds apart from each other early in the first quarter, just inside the 10-minute mark.

• Click here for a photo slideshow of Friday's game 
• GameNight Breakdown:  Brutal 1st quarter aside, Pride live up to nickname
• Mountain Pointe football index

The blocking on that (kick return) was just amazing," Kipili'i said. "The quarterbacks were doing an awesome job, the offensive line, everybody."

The Huskies added a 26-yard touchdown pass from their second quarterback, junior Travis Dean, to senior Drew Terrell two minutes later, a 61-yard scoring run by senior Dante Alexander three minutes after that, and a 9-yard run by Hambsch a minute later to take a commanding 35-0 lead through the game's first nine minutes.

At one point, Hamilton had as many touchdowns - three - as Mountain Pointe had run offensive plays from scrimmage.

"Overall that was as good of a first quarter as we've done all year," Hamilton head coach Steve Belles said.  "And our defense gave us some opportunities; I don't think they had a first down the entire first half."

Hambsch was nearly flawless for the Huskies, completing 7-of-8 passes for 140 yards and two scores through the air to go along with his touchdown run, while Hamilton defensive lineman Shelby Luke set up a touchdown by intercepting a Mountain Pointe pass inside the 20 and rumbling to the Pride 9-yard line.

For Mountain Pointe (1-4), who played without it's starting quarterback (Austin Lahr), defensive captain (linebacker Ryan Noble), and leading rusher (De'Andre Currie) - all hurt last week - it was anything but a night to remember.

But it's likely the Pride won't soon forget it, either. Hamilton out-gained the visitors 430-14 in total offense, while two of Mountain Pointe's three first downs in the game came as a result of Husky penalties.

"The first half got out of hand really quick, but I'm really proud of the effort they had in the second half," Mountain Pointe coach Phil Abbadessa said. "It's very challenging when you get down that quickly ... but they shut them out in the second half."

Mountain Pointe tight end Ben DeMarr, who caught the only two completed passes of the game - for 10 and eight yards - by Pride quarterbacks Austin Blom and Darius Dean, said he and his teammates understand how bad the first quarter must have looked.

"Everyone in the stands probably thought they were going to run 100 on us," DeMarr said. "But it's what it says on the front of our jerseys - Pride. No one can ever take that away from us. No matter what the scoreboard says we're still going to give 100 percent."