AURORA | Robert O’Brien felt the shocking chill of a bucket of ice water dumped over his head Friday night, but it had nothing to do with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
Two Hinkley football players snuck up on O’Brien and doused him in celebration of his first victory as head coach, a 27-6 Zero Week triumph over Aurora Public Schools rival Aurora Central in front of a massive, vocal crowd of 2,288 fans at Aurora Public Schools Stadium.
Senior Ahonsi Ohimai rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns, senior Dante Richardson had a big interception and a short touchdown run and the Thunderbirds surrendered just 102 yards of total offense to hold off the improved Trojans, who had a much better showing than last season when they lost the game by 47 points.
“There’s no words to describe it; it was something I’ve been waiting a really, really long time for and it was great to see the kids work as hard as they did and have it pay off,” said O’Brien, who moved up to the head job after former coach Jaron Cohen departed for Ponderosa after leading Hinkley to a 5-5 record and a Class 5A state playoff appearance in 2013.
“Too many penalties, we had way too many mental errors and that’s on me,” O’Brien added. “The kids were ready to play in the second half. We’re a second half team and we’re proud of that.”
The Thunderbirds also came out to play in the first half, taking advantage of a few early miscues by an Aurora Central team that’s young in a lot of places to get off to a quick 14-0 advantage.
New Trojans kicker Jonathan Mendez — who later unleashed a 55-yard punt and also recorded what coach Taylor Calvert believes was the first touchback in Aurora Central history — touched his knee down while taking a snap, setting up Hinkley at the 15-yard line. Ohimai scored on the T-Birds’ first play from scrimmage, blowing through a hole on the left side of the line to reach the end zone.
“We had to step up as a team and use those advantages to help us get that lead,” Ohimai said. “The line did it. They opened up a big hole, all I had to do was follow them.”
A muffed punt set Hinkley up again in Aurora Central territory and Ohimai cashed in a two-yard run, with Benjamin Lang hauling in the 2-point conversion from quarterback Eman McNeal to make it 14-0.
But before it could turn into a rout, coach Taylor Calvert’s Trojans fought back, bolstered by an aggressive defensive line and linebackers that started bringing effective pressure on McNeal and stifling the Thunderbirds’ offense.
In his first varsity start, sophomore quarterback Austin Alvarez finally got Aurora Central on the scoreboard with a 1-yard sneak in the second quarter to close the gap.
Senior running back Jevin Jordan rumbled his way to 97 yards on 28 carries, many in the second half, but the Trojans couldn’t get the tying score. They came close, but a wide open Dominick Jackson couldn’t haul in a deep throw down the sideline, while Alvarez was picked off by Richardson in the end zone on the next series after some hard-running by Jordan got the ball down to the Hinkley 14-yard line.
Ohimai made a leaping interception of an Alvarez pass deep in Aurora Central territory and punched it into the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown to give Hinkley the advantage in the tug-o-war the game had become for two-plus quarters.
“I read it like a book; I saw him release on the seam and I just jumped it,” Ohimai said of his interception. “The coaches just told me to watch the tight end and they were eventually going to go for it and I read it.”
The Trojans seemed to have life again when Jordan rumbled 31 yards for a touchdown around the right end, but a holding call negated the score. Aurora Central later fumbled the ball away near midfield and a 45-yard Ohimai sprint set up Richardson’s 4-yard touchdown.
Calvert came away from the game encouraged in a lot area and secure in the knowledge the final score didn’t accurately depict the tightness of the game.
“I’m not terribly disappointed because I know we’re a better team than how we played tonight,” Calvert said. “It’s encouraging that we have this bye week off to kindof sand off those rough edges and the little tiny penalties that hurt us. If we do that, maybe we can beat Thornton, which we haven’t beat in three years.”
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel
HINKLEY 27, AURORA CENTRAL 6
Score by quarters:
Aur. Central 0 6 0 0 — 6
Hinkley 14 0 0 13 — 27
SCORING
First quarter
Hinkley — Ahonsi Ohimai 15 yard run (run failed), 10:38
Hinkley — Ohimai 2 yard run (Benjamin Lang pass from Eman McNeal), 5:02
Second quarter
Aurora Central — Austin Alvarez 1 yard run (kick failed), 7:40
Fourth quarter
Hinkley — Ohimai 2 yard run (Victoria Oliva kick), 5:25
Hinkley — Dante Richardson 4 yard run (kick failed), 3:40
RUSHING
Hinkley: Ahonsi Ohimai 17-160 yards, Dante Richardson 8-36, Benjamin Lang 1-4, Ben Davis 2-2, Reginald Lopez 4-0, Jalen Thomas 1-(minus 3), Eman McNeal 10-(minus 46)
Aurora Central: Jevin Jordan 28-97 yards, Darius Frimpong 5-4, Jonathan Mendez 5-(minus 7), Austin Alvarez 11-(minus 10), Team 1-(minus 15)
PASSING
Hinkley: McNeal 5-11, 92 yards
Aurora Central: Alvarez 2-13, 33 yards, 2 INT
RECEIVING
Hinkley: Richardson 2-49, Joshua Hanible 2-29, Lang 1-14
Aurora Central: Dominick Jackson 1-32, Mike Retland 1-1
