Hernandez comes through for SMSA in season-opening win over Granby/canton
HARTFORD — With a minute left and the SMSA co-op team looking to run out the clock in its first football game of the season against Granby/ Canton, everybody knew who would get the ball.
It was third-and-11 on SMSA’S 25. The Tigerhawks needed a big play and once again, senior quarterback Daniel Hernandez came through.
Hernandez picked up 20 yards for a first down and the game was essentially over. SMSA held off Granby/canton, 21-14 Thursday night in a Pequot Uncas game at Weaver High.
Hernandez had 33 carries for 235 yards and one rushing touchdown and was 5 for 11 passing for 87 yards with one touchdown.
“Obviously, he’s an athlete but he’s a leader first,” SMSA coach Kevin Quinn said. “He’s not only a football player but he’s a guard on the basketball team that went to the state championship. He knows how to win and he’s a competitor. He not only challenges his teammates, he’ll challenge himself and he challenges me.
“At the end of the game, I went up to him and I said, ‘We’re going through you.’ He didn’t have the best first half throwing the ball but he was able to finish and run the ball.”
Hernandez threw three interceptions in the first half. It’s his first season as quarterback after playing receiver last year.
“The offensive line, they started the run game,” Hernandez said. “We came in with a plan, we’re going to run the ball no matter what. The line did their job and we did what we had to do.”
In 2019, Hernandez was a freshman on SMSA’S team that went to the Class M quarterfinals, where the Tigerhawks lost to Rockville, 33-0. He was a starter but didn’t get to play because he had suffered a concussion in the last regular season game. Football was canceled due to COVID-19 in 2020, and when the team returned to the field last year, Hernandez was one of three returning players. The rest were new.
“Coming out of COVID was tough,” Quinn said. “I only had three players on the team and Daniel Hernandez was one of them. He’s the only kid on the team who’s been a four-year starter prior to COVID.”
Last year, Granby/canton was SMSA’S opening game, too. The Tigerhawks lost 26-12. They shut out Rockville — who went to the Class M championship game — 21-0 in the next game, then lost three of their next four games by a total of six points, to finish 5-4. Granby/ Canton made it to the Class M quarterfinals where the Bears lost to Torrington.
On Thursday, Hernandez had his first pass picked off but his teammate Tamir Gamble returned the favor and intercepted a pass from Granby/ Canton quarterback Will Migliaccio and returned it 85 yards for a touchdown. Hernandez had a 20 yard touchdown pass to Russell Smith for SMSA’S second TD and Gamble’s second interception, in the second quarter, led to a Hernandez 66-yard touchdown run to give SMSA a 21-0 lead.
Granby/canton rallied in the second half, when Khalil Thomas picked up a fumble by Hernandez and ran it into the end zone for a touchdown, and had a 12-yard TD run late in the third quarter, but SMSA held off the Bears in the end.
“Last year, I had a bitter taste in my mouth,” Hernandez said. “We wanted to come out here and win and start off the season the right way.”