Prep football: Led by ‘three-headed monsters,’ Woodcreek plows past Lincoln

Woodcreek and star running back Hakeem Anderson ran over Lincoln 21-0 Friday night.

It was military appreciation night at Woodcreek. The Timberwolves were dressed in full camouflage jerseys while spectators wore red, white and blue. Several students were painted in patriotic colors. Even the stands were draped with American flags.

Led by a push from the offensive line, Woodcreek’s “three-headed monsters” put on a show for the large crowd. The Timberwolves’ rushing attack of Hakeem Anderson, Cooper Kyro and Colin Brainer is a problem for opposing defenses and Lincoln couldn’t solve the monster.

Anderson scored two first-half touchdowns to place the Timberwolves ahead of the Fighting Zebras 14-0. Anderson scored from 4 and 2 yards out.

Anderson sprained his ankle three weeks prior against Whitney. His return to the lineup gave coach Bradley Hunkins a potent rushing attack that even his quarterback didn’t want to turn away from.

“We were getting five to six yards a carry. We just kept going to the ground. I even tried to pass but my QB Austin (Katapodis) said, ‘No way just keep running it’. The run game definitely got us the win.”

With the quarterback content, the Timberwolves only went to the air twice.

The third touchdown came in the second half on a rush by Krupp.

The Timberwolves defense put on a clinic. Andrew Gordon and Wyatt Harris made big stops as Woodcreek was in control of the Lincoln offense all night.

Before the game, Fighting Zebras coach Allen Berg was hoping for a big game from running back Ryan Henning.

Henning, however, was pushed back all night and thanks to the Woodcreek defense. The Timberwolves keyed on him on almost every play. Berg said his team needs to clean up the offensive line issues moving into the next game. With a bye week ahead, there’s time to work.

Woodcreek has no such break. The Timberwolves are 3-2 and face league rival Inderkum on the road Friday. Their two losses came to Grant, ranked in the top 12 by The Bee, and Del Oro, ranked No. 2.

The Capital Valley Conference schedule is tough but the three-headed monsters offer enough variety to give opposing teams nightmares. Some guys slash, some guys sprint. Anderson is more of a bowling ball going through the line. Standing at only 5-foot-9, Anderson weighs almost 200 pounds and he used that to his advantage. Almost every Anderson run was an inside handoff. He had no issue bulldozing defenders carried some on his back several times.

The junior has hopes of playing in college, but for now it’s about helping his buddies and the Timberwolves wrap up a conference title.

“Last year when I was a sophomore, we had another running back who was like the captain of the team. This year, I really wanted to take that on so I was excited tonight to do so well and help my team to a win,” he said.

The win was nice, but Hunkins made sure to tread lightly in celebration. There’s a lot of football left.

“We made too many mistakes early in the game,” he said. “We had too many people on the field a couple of times. We need to clean those things up. It’s little things like that that make a huge difference.”

This story was originally published September 17, 2022 at 6:50 AM.