JANESVILLE — After continuously being smashed between large Sun Prairie defensive lineman in the first half, Janesville Parker running back LaVell Hewlett made a minor adjustment.
Hewlett decided to outrun the entire Cardinal defense in the second half and turned a 17-6 halftime deficit to a thrilling 35-23, comeback victory for Parker High in Big Eight Conference football here Friday night.
The outcome left both teams at 3-2 in the conference overall, and it dropped Sun Prairie out of a first-place tie.
Hewlett, who managed just 15 yards on nine carries in the first half, racked up five touchdowns, including four in the second half to snap Parker’s two-game losing streak.
“We just go one week at a time and never get too high and too low,” Parker coach Joe Dye said. “This isn’t going to count as two wins in the win column, and all I know is that this gives us a chance to back to work next week on the left side of the ledger.”
Sun Prairie appeared poised to keep the Vikings on the right side of the ledger in the first half.
Quarterback Phil Klass got the Cardinals started with a 2-yard touchdown that put his team up 7-0 in the first quarter. Hewlett answered with a 15-yard touchdown run, but was stymied the rest of the half.
Meanwhile Cardinal running back Karl Huemmer ran over the Vikings’ defense with 152 first-half rushing yards, including a 30-yard touchdown run that lifted the Cardinals to a 14-6 advantage.
Tyler Patterson then added a 19-yard field goal to givet Sun Prairie its 17-6 halftime lead, which left the Parker players searching for answers.
“We told our kids at halftime to continue doing what we were doing in the first quarter and keep moving the sticks,” Dye said. “We just had to be patient.”
Hewlett proved that patience is a virtue in the second half, demolishing the Cardinal defense with touchdown runs of 80, 63, 7, and 4 yards.
PARKER 35, SUN PRAIRIE 23
Sun Prairie 7 10 0 6—23
Janesville Parker 6 0 8 21—35
Scoring summary: SP—Phil Klass, 2 run (Tyler Patterson kick). JP—LaVell Hewlett, 15 run (kick failed). SP—Karl Huemmer, 30 run (Patterson kick). SP—FG, Patterson, 19 yards. JP—Hewlett, 80 run (Hewlett run). JP—Hewlett, 7 run (Joe Allen kick). JP—Hewlett, 4 run (Allen kick). SP—Wildeberg, 7 pass from Klass (pass failed). JP—Hewlett, 63 run (Allen kick).
Statistics: First downs—SP 25 JP 17 . Rushing—SP 34-262, JP 36-228. Yards passing—SP 286, JP 165. Passes—SP 37-20-2, JP 15-8-0. Fumbles SP 0-0, JP 1-1. Penalties—SP 7-60, JP 5-32.