Sophomore running back Ryder Havens transferred to Huntley from Hampshire over the summer.
In Friday’s home opener against Jacobs, he made his presence felt as a Red Raider.
Havens erupted in the second half Friday night of a 42-7 Fox Valley win, rushing for 168 of his game-high 184 yards and scoring two long touchdowns. His exploits broke open a 7-0 game at halftime.
“It was an amazing feeling, best feeling in the world,” Havens said. “Transferring from Hampshire to here and just instantly being added to the family, it’s been a blessing, it really has.”
After being held to 16 yards on 10 carries in the first half, Havens and Huntley (2-0, 2-0) turned up the heat in the second half.
Havens ran for TDs of 25 and 68 yards on consecutive carries. He also had a 49-yard run that set up one of quarterback Chris Raffin’s two rushing TDs.
“We weren’t sticking to what we thought we could do,” Huntley coach Matt Zimolzak said. “That was our problem in the first half. We were trying to do things that maybe we shouldn’t have tried to do.
“Just stick with our run game, let Ryder do it and get us where we need to be. We’re happy to have him here.”
Raffin’s first TD run, a 1-yarder, came after Patrick Roppolo’s interception on the third play of the game. Jacobs (1-1, 1-1) limited the damage, however, going into the half only down one score.
“It was 7-0 at halftime, then the floodgates opened,” Jacobs coach Bill Mitz said. “They took opportunities. The young kid (Havens) had some fantastic runs. They came out in the third quarter and took it right to us.”
Of immediate concern to the Golden Eagles was the status of highly recruited lineman Joey Price.
Price went down in the third quarter and had to be helped off the field with a leg injury. He left the stadium on a cart after the game.
“We’re all kind of shell-shocked right now,” Mitz said.
Raffin had a second straight solid game for Huntley. He completed 13 of 19 passes for 193 yards. He threw a 32-yard TD pass to Michael Boland, who totaled eight catches for 142 yards.
“In the first half, he was a little hesitant to make some of the calls that he should be making,” Zimolzak said of Raffin. “Once we loosened it up a little bit, he was able to do what we needed him to do.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
