Homecoming Win for the Hilltoppers

On Saturday, October 19th, the Hopkins Hilltoppers welcomed the Newark Academy Minutemen for their annual Homecoming game.  This Homecoming game was unlike any other the Hilltoppers have played before, as Newark was severely undermanned due to low football numbers and injuries throughout their season, so Hopkins played its first 8 man varsity football game in team history and came out victorious 22-8.  

Despite the smaller number of players on the field, Hopkins played strong in front of a rambunctious homecoming crowd.  The Hopkins Pep Band got the fans going in the first half before the players would take over with positive plays on the field.  In the first quarter, 2 of Hopkins senior captains connected, with Mars Fine ‘25 finding Matt Goos ‘25 for the 23 yard catch and run for the score.  The ensuing 2 point try made it 8-0 Hopkins midway through the first quarter.  Early in the second quarter, Hopkins found the endzone once again on a pass from Fine to junior captain Tommy O’Connell ‘26 from 20 yards out to make it 16-0 Hopkins headed into halftime.  Building on their momentum from the first half, Hopkins scored once again on their first offensive series after halftime on a Mars Fine QB sneak from the 1 yard line to set the score at 22-0 in favor of the Hilltoppers.  Towards the end of the game, Newark connected on a touchdown pass to close the gap to 14 points in favor of Hopkins, but this would prove too much to overcome and the game ended at 22-8.  At the end of the game, Matt Goos awarded the Team 152 Brick to senior captain Nate Testa ‘25 for leading the offensive and defensive lines on a Homecoming win.

This marks the end of the regular season for the Hilltoppers who finish 3-3 in league play.  Within the Metropolitan Independent Football League, the top 6 seeds qualify for the League Championship tournament play while teams 7-12 qualify for Bowl Bracket tournament play, and Hopkins heads into the postseason as the #7 seed overall earning a week 1 bye for the Bowl Bracket.  Hopkins will await the winter of Rye Country Day School and Dalton who play this Saturday, and we hope to see many of our fans at our first playoff game and our Senior Day Game the following weekend!

Go Hop!