BY GREG GULAS
      Boardman News Sports
      bnews@zoominternet.net
      Terence Thomas made his long-awaited season debut, racking up 210 yards offensively, Sean O’Horo added 139 yards rushing and two touchdowns while the Boardman offense racked up 394 yards of total offense as the Spartans rocked the Howland Tigers, 33-21 last Friday at Boardman Stadium.
      In the annual Hall of Fame game, the crowd was treated to multiple plays that qualified as hall of fame-like as the Spartans moved to 3-1 on the season and 1-0 in the All-American Conference.
      Howland fell to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play as Boardman won for the second consecutive year – they were victorious 54-19 a season ago – and improved to 13-3-1 in 17 all-time games played against the Tigers.
      Starting quarterback Anthony Hightower led the team early, completing both passes that he attempted for 47 yards before an injury sent him to the sidelines.
      Wearing No. 14 – in honor KeJuan Robinson who was injured against Massillon Jackson on September 3 – instead of his familiar No. 3 shirt, Cam Thompson also stood out as he added four catches – three from Thomas – for 182 yards and two scores to help pace the Spartans’ offensive attack.
      “We knew that we would have to put some points up tonight if we expected to win,” stated Spartans first-year head coach Seth Antram after the game. “We knew they’d come out, grind the clock and we’d have to take a couple shots early. We took them and were fortunate enough to complete them.”
      Antram says his senior class is a great group of leaders.
      “We have a great group of seniors, not just Terence but he adds a little spark,” Antram added. “Look at Anthony Hightower and what he did to get us here in this situation. He got his ankle tweaked earlier but Cam Thompson is coming along, getting healthy and peaking at the right time.”
      The Spartans got on the board on their opening drive of the game when Cole Congson, a standout on head coach Eric Simione’s soccer team, split the uprights from 35-yards out at 8:37 of the opening quarter for a 3-0 lead.
      Thomas made his presence felt once he hit the field, connecting with Thompson on an 82-yard scoring strike, capping a five-play, 84-yard drive with just 22 seconds remaining in the opening session to stretch their lead to 10-0 heading to the second quarter of action.
      Thompson appreciates the fact that he has two quarterbacks in Hightower and Thomas who can get him the ball when he is in space.
      His 82-yard touchdown pass from Thomas was a fitting ‘welcome back’ greeting from his classmate.
      “Terence definitely means a lot to this team,” Thompson stated about the Purdue University commit. “He opens up both our pass game and run game.”
      Luca Massucci’s 20-yard run at 9:48 of the second period cut the Howland deficit to 10-7 and when Matthew Coomer found the endzone from 10-yards away at the 2:22 mark, the Tigers authored their only lead of the game, 14-10.
      O’Horo, who was bottled up a good portion of the first half – he had just 40 yards on six carries – gave Boardman the lead for good with 57 seconds remaining before intermission after his eight-yard dash to paydirt gave the Spartans a 17-14 lead heading to the locker room.
      He played the second half in a No. 10 jersey after his familiar No. 6 shirt was ripped in the opening half of play.
      O’Horo posted 89 yards on 11 carries with a touchdown after intermission, noting their adjustment at the half helped everyone offensively over the final 24 minutes of play.
      “We just started to throw the ball a little more,” O‘Horo noted. “They would overload the box and it gave me all the room I needed, even if it was just a little bit for me to do my thing.”
      Being 3-1 after the first four games has been an added plus, according to O’Horo.
      “It’s big for us because we’ve delt with some adversity and conquered it,” he said. “Terence and Anthony are both shifty in the backfield. Terence has a little more throwing experience and that helps a lot. We commit too many penalties and must clean that up moving forward if we expect to finish strong. We have some other stuff to clean up but just making sure that we are doing our job on every play is the big thing.”
      Congson’s second field goal of the game, this time from 33-yards out, extended Boardman’s lead to 20-14 and when O’Horo scored his second touchdown of the game from 46-yards away at the 4:55 mark, the Spartans increased their margin to 27-14 heading to the final frame.
      Massucci’s second rushing touchdown, this time from four yards out, cut the Boardman lead to 27-21 with 6:47 left but Thomas found Thompson from 13-yards away with 1:14 left for a 33-21 lead that all but put the game out of reach for the Tigers.
      “They ran the ball well against us and grinded the clock, but we knew that they would,” Antram said. “They are a hard-nosed, physical football team. Obviously, we would have liked to have gotten a win last week but our goals remain the same. That is to go 1-0 each week and get better each week so today we are where we want to be.”
      O’Horo finished with a game-high 129 yards on 17 carries and two scores while Thomas added 75 yards on 10 totes and 135 yards though the air with two scores to pace the Spartans offensively.
      Thompson was on the receiving end of four completions for 182 yards, also scoring twice.
      Thomas is happy to finally be back and barking signals under center for the Spartans.
      “It was great,” he stated. “I just loved being out there with my teammates. I had some ups and downs with my knee but I am ready to be back. Being 3-1 and almost to the midpoint of the season gives us encouragement moving forward. It keeps us fired up because we play a tough schedule. We have a few things that we have to tighten up on defense and need to put the ball in the endzone more but we have a bunch of guys who can go out there and make plays and those are things that we will clean up in practice.”
      Woomer finished with 102 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown to lead the Tigers’ offense while Massucci scored twice and rushed for 81 yards on 16 totes.
      Tigers’ signal-caller, John Perry, was 5 of 10 through the air for 42 yards.
      The Spartans will conclude their two-game homestand when they play host to the East High Golden Bears on Friday at 7 p.m. at Spartan Stadium.
      They will then open a three-game road stand at Cleveland Benedictine (September 24), travel to Warren Harding (October 1) then conclude the stand when they meet the high-powered offensive attack of Ursuline High at YSU’s Stambaugh Stadium on October 8.
       GAME NOTES…In 17 all-time games between the Spartans and Tigers, BHS owns a 13-3-1 overall mark…The Spartans have won two in a row and 11 of the last 12 outings between the two schools…There has been one tie in the series, that coming in 1979 when the two schools battled to a 6-6 deadlock....Sean O’Horo paced the Spartan defense against the Tigers, finishing with 12 tackles....Boardman defensive coordinator Mike Popio also cited the efforts of Andre Freeman, Jared Mahood, Cam Atwood, Fernando Ortiz, Stephen Conti and Ashton LaBelle, each of whom had a tackles for a loss; and Isaiah Torres, who finished with two tackles for losses and a forced fumble....
      Boardman-Howland All-Time Series
      Boardman leads, 13-3-1
      1975 – Howland, 14-0
      1976 – Howland, 16-0
      1977 – Boardman, 13-9
      1978 – Boardman, 20-0
      1979 – TIE, 6-6
      1981 – Boardman, 27-14
      1982 – Boardman, 10-7
      1983 – Boardman, 14-7
      1984 – Boardman, 20-3
      1985 – Boardman, 43-7
      1986 – Boardman, 24-0
      1987 – Boardman, 47-0
      2017 – Boardman, 35-17
      2018 – Boardman, 31-17
      2019 – Howland, 27-24
      2020 – Boardman, 54-19