New Hampstead football breaks through for first playoff win under coach Kyle Hockman
In the last three seasons, Kyle Hockman's New Hampstead football team has been a No. 4 seed on the road for the first round of the playoffs, where the Phoenix showed their mettle in a trio of close losses.
That trend ended Saturday night as New Hampstead, the No. 2 seed out of Region 3-4A, dominated visiting Westside-Macon 40-12 to advance to the second round of the playoffs. The Phoenix (6-4) will be on the road to face Starr's Mill (8-3) next Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Hockman, a coaching veteran of 22 years who led McEachern to the state semis twice in his 11 seasons before coming to New Hampstead in 2019, said this win, his first playoff victory with the Phoenix, was special.
In 2020, LaGrange beat New Hampstead 30-26 in the first round, and Cairo edged the Phoenix 33-31 in 2021. Last year, Troup beat New Hampstead 36-29.
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"This one stands out because we've been so close the last three years, and to get that monkey off our back means a lot to our kids," Hockman said. "It's big for our program, our school and our community. I'm really proud of how the guys have played all year."
Junior quarterback RaShawn Truell, who entered the game with 2,718 yards passing with 34 touchdown passes and just four interceptions, got off to a slow start — but it was only a matter of time before he found his groove. After completing just one of his first 10 throws, he came on strong and finished 17 of 33 for 231 yards with four scoring passes. He also rushed for 53 yards and pair of scores on nine carries, including an impressive 22-yard touchdown.
He connected with Jaylen Hampton, the Western Kentucky commit, six time for 102 yards and three scores and hit Malachi Lonnon eight time for 85 yards and a touchdown.
"It's taken me a minute to get going in a lot of our games this season, but I always know if we stick with our game play we'll get it going — and then nobody can stop us," Truell said. "I've had a great relationship with Jaylen since I was a freshman, and we worked a lot on our own together this summer, and that's paying off now. I'm confident we can beat anyone in the state if we stick together and play our game."
The New Hampstead defense had a very strong showing, slowing down Jessie Bell and Kadiphius Iverson, who bother entered the game with over 1,000 yards rushing on the season. Bell had 111 yards on 18 carries, and Iverson had 12 carries for 29 yards.
Aaziah Scott has three sacks for the Phoenix, and Shaun Hamilton and Tyrese Virgo had one each. Kameron Blake-Maizes had a big game at linebacker and Jordan Sonnabend and Lonnon had interceptions. Hamilton and Antoine Sanders recovered fumbles as the Phoenix forced four turnovers.
"This means so much to us to finally win a playoff game," Scott said. "We've been through a lot of adversity, but Coach Hockman and our coaching staff have never given up on us. They are always motivating us, and tonight we rose to the occasion."
Benedictine 41, Baldwin 0
Benedictine, the two-time defending Class 4A state champion, had no problems with visiting Baldwin in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs as the Cadets rolled to their 22nd consecutive victory at Memorial Stadium.
Senior Na'Seir Samuel got the party started with a scoring run in the first quarter, and then broke loose for a 32-yard touchdown late in the first half.
Florida State-bound quarterback Luke Kromenhoek ran for a score on a sneak and hit Bryce Baker with a 20-yard touchdown pass midway through the second quarter, before firing a 50-yard scoring strike to La'Don Bryant with 1:18 left in the half to put BC up 34-0.
The Cadets improved to 11-0 and are set to host LaGrange (9-2) Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at Dknight@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: New Hampstead football grabs first playoff win under Kyle Hockman
