Howard makes it 4-0 with easy win over Rutland

Midway through the fourth quarter Friday night, Howard quarterback Courvoisier King took off on a scramble and gained 7 yards, giving the Huskies a first down.

Seconds later, Howard head coach Barney Hester removed King and most of his offensive starters from the game.

It was almost as if Hester, after three close games, had forgotten that his team was leading Rutland by a comfortable margin and he didn’t need to have his starters in the game at that point.

Howard won its fourth straight game, setting the program record for wins in a season, by rolling to a 42-8 win.

“I haven’t had much of a chance this year to take the starters out, and it was great to be able to do it in this game,” said Hester, who is in his third year at Howard. “Courvoisier looked at me and was kind of unsure why he was coming out because he has barely left the field this year on offense, but like I said, it was great to be able to play everyone. Getting that fourth win for the first time in school history is a big step, but these guys are just hungry to get more.”

Howard went three-and-out the first time it had the ball, but when it punted, the ball touched a Rutland player, giving the Huskies a first down on the Hurricanes’ 34. After a 28-yard run by King, Jaqwun Stinson took it in from 6 yards out.

After Rutland failed to move the ball, the Huskies took nine plays to go 71 yards with King getting the touchdown on an 8-yard run, and after Rutland again failed to move the ball, Jerin Means went 62 yards on an end around to give Howard a comfortable 21-0 lead.

Rutland once again could not move the football, and this time could not get the punt away cleanly as Gabriel Howard was able to get a hand on it. Two plays later, King, who threw for 78 yards and ran for 74 in the game, found Stinson in the end zone to make the score 28-0.

Rutland had its best possession of the night in its next series, moving 77 yards in 15 plays to get on the board. Ladarian Womack had 48 yards on the drive in nine carries and scored the touchdown from 6 yards out and Aaron Haugabrook added the two-point conversion to make it 28-8. Womack ended the night with 78 yards on 20 carries before leaving with cramps in the third quarter.

Antonio Jones added a score for Howard in the third quarter on a 5-yard run, and Rutland, playing without Womack, was unable to put any offense together for the remainder of the game.

“Coach Hester has come here and helped us believe that we can win, and the whole attitude of the school is different now,” King said. “We just want to keep getting better every week.”

This story was originally published September 11, 2015 at 11:33 PM with the headline "Howard makes it 4-0 with easy win over Rutland ."