Eastern Hancock’s Logan Hoskins is congratulated by his teammates after his pick-6 against Milan Friday.
Mike Brown | For The Daily Reporter
Staff report
CHARLOTTESVILLE — Milan answered Eastern Hancock’s overtime touchdown, then made a two-point conversion, to defeat the Royals 36-35 at Eastern Hancock High School Friday.
“It was definitely a tough one,” Eastern Hancock head coach Pat Echeverria said of the loss. “Sometimes as a team when you are learning how to win you have to go through these kind of games. Having an opportunity to go through overtime, the way our kids fought, it was fun to be a Royal, from that aspect. Obviously, the result wasn’t what we wanted.”
Eastern Hancock (3-3) took a 28-21 lead with three minutes left in regulation on a 66-yard touchdown run by Kain Sotelo.
The Indians answered with under a minute to play on a 70-yard run to force overtime.
In the extra session, Eastern Hancock scored first on a Sotelo to Cameron Volz pass play. Aaron Redmon added the PAT for a 35-28 lead.
The game was tied 7-7 at halftime.
The Royals lone score came on a second-quarter interception return for a touchdown by Logan Hoskins. He picked off a screen pass and went all the way for the score to tie the game.
“The defense kept us in the game in the first half,” Echeverria said. “That was great to see. They’ve had a couple rough games against some of the better teams we have played. They picked us up and our offense picked it up in the second half.
“Milan is a good team. They were tough, physical. We knew they could run the ball. It was a battle back and forth the entire game.”
Eastern Hancock will go on the road next week and return to Mid-Eastern Conference play with a game at Monroe Central.
