Hilltop Baptist wins showdown of area 6-Man football teams

Hilltop Baptist avenged last season’s loss to Edison, beating the Eagles 48-19 in a 6-Man South Conference game Saturday at Hilltop Baptist Field.

“They kicked us last year pretty good,” Centurions coach Allen Knight said. “The kids were focused and we had some big plays.”

The Centurions (1-2, 1-1) took advantage of six Edison turnovers to score 35 consecutive points and put the game out of reach by the end of the third quarter.

The Hilltop Baptist offense rolled all game long. But a couple of interceptions early helped Edison (0-3, 0-2) take the lead before the Centurions turned things around with a big defensive play of their own.

Edison opened the scoring on a 20-yard interception return for a touchdown by Shawn Norman with 3:50 left in the first quarter.

On the next possession, Centurions quarterback Jacob Pennington threw another interception at the Eagles 4-yard line. But Hilltop Baptist’s Matthew Hine tackled Isaiah Mannon for a safety on the subsequent drive’s play, to make it 6-2, Edison.

Jacob Pennington later threw two TD passes to Johnny Pennington and Ethan Kinner to put Hilltop Baptist ahead 16-6 in the first. The Centurions never looked back.

In the second quarter, Jacob’s older brother Johnny Pennington scored on a 47-yard run down the left sideline and a 29-yard catch on fourth down for a 29-6 halftime lead.

Knight hopes the win is a turning point in the season after losing 32-26 in overtime to Vilas last week.

“This was a really big win,” Knight said. “Last week hurt us. Our kids were down and wanted to come out and perform.”

The Eagles, a second-year program, finished with seven turnovers overall, including five fumbles.

Edison coach Jeff Jordahl was disappointed with the performance.

“Coming out of halftime, our guys believed we could come out and win the game,” Jordahl said. “Every time we got something going, we had a turnover.”

Johnny Pennington finished with 127 yards rushing and 126 receiving. Jacob Pennington threw for 198 yards including four touchdowns and two interceptions. Jeremy Laxton added 51 rushing and 38 receiving yards, including two TDs for the Centurions.

“It means a lot,” said Johnny Pennington. “We had to play with a lot of heart.”

The Centurions are still mourning the sudden death of principal Carl Adams from pneumonia on Sept. 1.

“This was emotional for us as a school,” Knight said. “It’s a great win for us, a great win for the kids.”

The two teams play again in a nonleague game Sept. 22 at Miami-Yoder, Edison’s home field, to fill a gap in the schedule after Aguilar canceled because of low turnout.

Knight expects to see a different Edison team for that game.

“They’re going to work hard and they’ll be ready for next week,” he said.

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