Behind Tyler Shuey, Ty Werley, Hamburg opens football season with win over Halifax

Quarterback Tyler Shuey trotted onto the field for his first possession as a starter for Hamburg with his team already down seven points.

The junior then threw two incompletions and ran once for minus-2 yards as the Hawks punted after five plays.

Things improved after that.

Shuey ended up throwing for four touchdowns and running for two, and receiver Ty Werley caught five passes for 253 yards and three TDs to lead Hamburg to a season-opening 49-19 win over Halifax in a non-league game Friday at steamy Hawk Hill.

“I felt a bit nervous,” Shuey said of his starting debut, “but the team’s there. They’ve got my back and I have belief in them.”

Shuey, taking over following the graduation of three-year starter Xander Menapace, ended up completing 9-of-13 passes and running five times for 72 yards.

“He’s a new quarterback, obviously, to fill in Xander’s shoes,” Werley said. “I think he did great.”

Werley, also a junior, was his go-to guy.

After Hamburg tied it at 7-7 on a 1-yard run by Leland Moore, it took the lead for good on the first play of its next possession when Shuey connected with Werley for an 87-yard TD. The ball got between two defenders to Werley, who caught it at midfield before racing into the end zone with 8:56 left in the second quarter.

The two connected for two more touchdowns before halftime.

After the Wildcats cut it to 14-13 on a 40-yard run by quarterback Teegan Carroll, Werley caught a 27-yard pass from Shuey to cap a 43-yard, two-play drive.

On Hamburg’s next drive, Shuey hit a wide-open Werley for a 54-yard touchdown that made it 28-13 with 3:52 left in the first half.

“It just comes up to the person throwing the ball and my line did great,” Werley said. “So that’s all I can ask for really.”

Shuey scored his first touchdown on a 12-yard run with 35.4 seconds left in the half. Cohen Correll set up the drive with a blocked punt, and Shuey also had a 25-yard run on the drive.

His 23-yard run on the first drive of the second half gave Hamburg a 42-13 lead.

The Hawks’ final score came on a 71-yard pass-and-run from Shuey to tight end Mason Semmel on an inside screen late in the third quarter.

“Ty has been great all of camp and he’s been doing a better job of being a commander on the field, moving guys around,” Hamburg coach Matt Hoffert said of Shuey. “He did that here tonight.

“The first throw he came out, he had the nerves a little bit, he underthrew one, but after that he stepped up and he was a leader all the time. And he threw great balls, just like we do in practice. And he kept his head the whole time. He ran the ball well. He can read something and bolt and he did a great job of that.”

Werley had a strong overall game. He also had a 17-yard punt return and made an impact on defense.

“Ty does a great job of body positioning,” Hoffert said of Werley’s receiving. “You saw him getting a lot of separation. He’s been working on that. He just did a great job of finishing plays. He did a great job on defense, too, tonight. He stepped up big time on defense. He was all around tonight and that’s all we can ask all these guys to give us everything they’ve got.”

In the opening minutes, things didn’t look so great for Hamburg, which beat Halifax 48-6 on the road in last year’s opener.

The Wildcats committed a false start on their first offensive play of the season, but then proceeded to go right down the field against the Hawks. Carroll ended the drive with a 2-yard run to make it 7-0.

But Hamburg, with help from Shuey and Werley, among others, was able to get its footing, making it almost a perfect opening game for a coach.

The Hawks won, but there’s plenty of things to improve on that can be pointed out on film.

“I told these guys all week that Halifax, we beat them last year, they want to come in and make us look bad,” Hamburg coach Matt Hoffert said. “And we came out flat.

“I’m proud of them because they didn’t hang their heads. We stayed with it. We came out and actually finished a game, and that’s all I can ask for. I said, ‘Things aren’t always going to be perfect, it’s how we finish.’ And they actually came out and we started moving the ball, their heads started going up and then we ended up like this. So I’m excited for that.”