Hurley’s speed, defense’s aggression carry Eisenhower to convincing win over rival Stevenson

If a homecoming king were allowed to come from another school, Eisenhower running back Bryce Hurley would have left Stevenson on Friday night with a crown. The senior running back terrorized the Titans’ defense, gashing them for over 150 rushing yards and three touchdowns, including one from 80 yards out, in the Eagles 35-13 crashing of Stevenson’s homecoming game. “It feels awesome,” Hurley, a Grand Valley State football commit, said.

“It’s honestly like the best feeling ever. We had a great week of practice. We had a great game plan.



We executed it awesomely. The playmakers made plays and just coming in on their field, just kicking their (butts) from the start is awesome – and beating them up on homecoming.” The Eagles set the tone near-instantly when Stevenson quarterback Andrew Knight II fired into double coverage on the game’s first drive, resulting in a Joey Mixa interception to set the Eagles up in plus-territory.

But the Stevenson defense, which has been a strong point all year, made a stop to force an Eisenhower field goal attempt. A bad snap forced Ike’s holder to scramble and he would have been stopped, but the Titans committed a careless penalty to give the Eagles another chance, which they cashed in on thanks to a 1-yard touchdown run by Conner Temple. That was two drives with two costly errors by Stevenson, something that set the tone and added up as the game went on.

“You can’t shoot yourselves in the foot,” said Stevenson head coach Justin Newcomb. “Guys not setting the edge properly, not taking the right angles. We allow that fourth down first possession to go for a touchdown.

And as you start to go through the game, you add up all the little mistakes.” Hurley’s first touchdown was a 31-yard run early in the second to put the Eagles up 14-0. It was immediately followed by Knight’s second interception, which was returned by Gabriel Perrypool for a pick-six.

Eisenhower’s defense forced one more pick out of Knight – Temple came down with a deep ball early in the third quarter – thanks to a game plan that took advantage of a lingering ankle issue the quarterback sustained during the Titans’ Week 4 loss to Dakota. “It’s a work of coaches putting together the game plan,” said Ike head coach Chris Smith. “Coach Dave Brzezinski and Travis Multhaupt, they do a great job putting together the game plan.

I knew they wanted to come out and power us. We had heard their quarterback was a little injured. We figured they’d come out power, so we set up our defense to try to stop that and do our best we could in that.

” The Eagles’ secondary is made up of four returners with Temple and Hurley leading the way. That kind of playmaking ability and veteran leadership in the back line allowed Smith to get even more aggressive with his front seven. “We have awesome DBs, linebackers,” Hurley said.

“We have skill players all over the field, so just wherever you throw it – I mean, if it’s in the middle of the field, if it’s deep, our guys are covering it. We feel good about that.” A 46-yard pass from Ike quarterback Jack Bullock to Perrypool late in the second quarter set Hurley up for his second touchdown, a 2-yard push, just before the break to put Ike up 28-0.

Their final score was Hurley’s 80-yard sprint. “You can’t even put it into words,” Smith said. “He’s (Hurley’s) one of those special players that comes around once in a lifetime.

And yeah, he’s doing a great job, but you know what? Our offensive line is really opening some holes from him too. We’re really doing a great job on the o-line.” The win bumps the Eagles to 5-0 on the regular season with a 3-0 mark in the MAC Red, also carrying double-digit wins over Romeo and Anchor Bay.

It’s their first time being unbeaten through five games since 2017, when Ike started 11-0 but fell to now-Wolverine Donovan Edwards and West Bloomfield Had Smith and the Eagles been asked if they thought they’d be unbeaten after five games, they might not have said yes. “It’s hard to replace a lot of guys (from) last year, so we didn’t know what to expect,” Smith said. “We knew we had a chance to be a good team.

I think we’re a little further along than we expected at this point, but I think the seniors on this team have done a great job with their leadership. “Jack Bullock, our quarterback, Hurley, Temple, Big Mike (Dziadula), Claudio Malaj – our senior class is really a great leadership class.” Stevenson finally broke through for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, first on a 3-yard run by Jaiden Hill-Alston then again on their next and final drive with an Orion Stanford 1-yard score.

They went for two points but failed to convert on the second touchdown. /*! This file is auto-generated */!function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.

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“We’re playing the long game here and getting our team ready for a good push here the last half of the season,” Newcomb said. “We kind of see where our mistakes are, where we got to get better at. I’m confident these seniors are going to make sure that they get directed.

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