Hoover Vikings at Louisville Leopards 2013 Football Highlights
Louisville 14, North Canton Hoover 13
Hoover fumbled the game-tying extra point snap with 23 seconds remaining allowing Louisville to escape with a 14-13 victory over visiting North Canton. Connor Zwick was 10 of 15 passing for 124 yards and also rushed for 43 yards on 21 carries. He threw a 12 yard touchdown pass to Kyle Bast and also ran for a 10 yard score to lead the Leopards to 2-0.
North Canton put together a drive for the ages. The Vikings traveled 85 yards in 20 plays in just 3:19 to get within one point of the Leopards with 23 seconds remaining in the contest. Hoover converted on plays of 4th-and-1, 4th-and-17, 3rd-and-10, and 4th-and-6 on the drive before Quarterback Luke Grandjean hit Joss Moss in the left corner of the endzone for a 12 yard score.
Hoover fumbled the extra point snap and AJ Minster tackled the kicker to secure the Louisville victory.
Minster also played a key role in setting up the Leopards first touchdown. After the Louisville defense held Hoover to a three-and-out, North Canton dropped back to punt the football. The snap sailed over the punter’s head and Minster fell on it on the Vikings 14. Three plays later Zwick connected with Bast on a 3rd-and-8 in the middle of the field for a 12 yard touchdown.
After another defensive stop, the Leopards put together another scoring drive. The key play in the 6 play, 50 yard drive was a 25 yard Zwick to Bryce Mathie completion on 3rd-and-3 from the Hoover 43. Zwick then broke several tackles on the next play to setup Louisville with a 2nd-and-short. Two plays later he ran around the right side for a 10 yard touchdown run on 3rd-and-2 to give the Leopards a 14-7 advantage.
Louisville’s defense answered the call all night long. Cole McElroy brought down Grandjean in the backfield on a third down play in the first half. A host of Leopards that included Lewis Adkins, Zach Shea, Dylan Kline, Dale Welsh, Frankie Falcone, and Josh Brown made their presence known in the North Canton backfield all night long.
The Vikings first touchdown came in the second quarter after they recovered a fumble on a short punt. Hoover marched 41 yards in 4 plays before scoring with just 8 seconds remaining on a Grandjean 8 yard rollout to the right side. Grandjean would finish the evening as the Vikings leading rusher with 45 yards on 26 carries and also completed 15 of 30 passes for 158 yards. His main target was Alex Binnie who caught 6 passes for 57 yards.
Andy Minster led all Leopards receivers with 6 catches for 68 yards. Louisville now leads the all-time series over North Canton 54-32-5. The Vikings have not won at Louisville since 2003 and the Leopards have won 5 out of the past 7 games in the series overall.
