Though the Hollister Tigers have had some struggles during the 2022 season, they hoped to have a successful game against the winless Springfield Catholic Fighting Irish in a rare scheduled Saturday contest. It wasn't easy, but the Tigers prevailed 26-21.
The Irish, who hadn't scored more than one touchdown in any game this season, overcame a slow start and took a one point lead into the fourth quarter and appeared on their way to their first win of the season before a turnover deep in the on territory gave Hollister the ball and eventually Blake Russell scored on a seven yard run to grab the lead, then held on from their.
The Tigers scored on their first offensive play from scrimmage on a Russell 75 yard run and later got a big run by Colton Hale to set-up his own up his own short scoring run a couple of plays later. After Catholic score, Tight End Noah Richardson caught a one handed pass from Luke Calovich for 52 yards to put the Tigers up 20-7. Bur a couple of big plays by the Irish, including one set-up by a missed tackle on a screen pass, allowed the Irish to grab a one point lead before the Tigers got the late turnover to set-up the game winner.
Hollister, which goes to 3-4 with the win, clinch no worse than a fourth place finish in the District and will host a First Round District Game in two weeks after their regular season finale next week at home against Lamar.
