Undefeated!

HOT SPRINGS – Last week on Senior Night, the Hot Springs Savage Heat football team put an exclamation mark on an exceptional season.

Hot Springs convincingly put away the Alberton Panthers by a score of 67-0 to finish off an undefeated regular season, with a record of 8-0.

Hot Springs Head Coach Jim Lawson was pleased with how the team performed in the regular season finale.

“Defensively we did a good job. Offensively we blocked extremely well and played fast,” Lawson said.

The Savage Heat used a big first quarter to gain control of the game, putting up 35 points in the night’s first frame.

Strong defensive play was a big part of the team’s success with the Hot Springs defense coming up with several fourth down stops in the first half, to give the team’s offense great field position and a short field with which to start their drives.

Lawson emphasized the importance of playing quick on both sides of the ball noting his team did very well against Alberton.

“I thought that was the fastest the team had looked in a while,” Lawson said.

In the second half, the team’s defense was able to put points on the board off of a Panthers turnover, when sophomore defensive end Blaine Carr returned an interception for a 55-yard touchdown.

Special teams was an additional factor for the Savage Heat as the team’s first score was a direct result of a blocked punt by junior Jack Dolson, which gave Hot Springs the ball for the first time of the night within Alberton’s red zone.

Following the blocked punt sophomore running back Trevor Paro bolted into the end zone on a 16-yard touchdown run to give the Savage Heat the first points of the Friday night matchup.

Senior quarterback Tanner Hoff had a big game during the team’s regular season finale completing five of his eight passes for 150 yards through the air for three passing touchdowns.

All three of Hoff’s touchdown passes occurred during the first quarter of play.

His first touchdown strike was 45-yard connection to Paro for the team’s third touchdown of the evening.

On Hot Springs’ next drive Hoff delivered a 19-yard touchdown pass to Paro to cap off another Savage Heat scoring drive.

The final score of the first quarter came when Hoff found senior fullback Nate Gray for a 38-yard score.

Gray had also scored earlier in the quarter, breaking through the goal line on a two-yard touchdown run for the team’s second score on the night.

Paro and junior Jameson Morigeau added touchdown runs in the second quarter, with Paro taking in a 29-yard run and Morigeau scoring on 6-yard dash.

Morigeau would get his second touchdown on the night with a 5-yard touchdown road to open the scoring in the game’s second half.

The final points of the night came in the fourth quarter when sophomore running pack Kane Lawson finished off another Hot Springs scoring drive with a 9-yard touchdown run.

Lawson compiled 64 rushing yards on the night for the Savage Heat.

The team’s impressive offensive output gave Hot Springs 291 all-purpose yards in last Friday’s contest with Alberton.

The Savage Heat bring a lot of momentum into the playoffs following eight consecutive regular season wins.

The team locked up the conference title and a #1 seed in the upcoming playoffs with last weekends win over Lone Peak.

According to Lawson, the team is guaranteed one playoff game at home, and will have a chance to play their second playoff game at home too if they win their postseason opener against the Sunburst Refiners on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 1 p.m. in Hot Springs.