Photo by Joe Lovell Harrison Central’s Brady Hyre evades the pass rush Friday against Bellaire on Nelson Field.

It didn’t have to be this way, and Anthony Hayes knew it.

With his Harrison Central offense running on fumes through most of the first half, Hayes unlocked the jewels of his playbook and the Huskies responded with a stirring, 29-26 victory over hard-luck Bellaire on Friday at Nelson Field.

Both Harrison Central and Bellaire are now 3-5 on the campaign.

The Big Reds were rolling early, up 19-0 and completely dominating the visitors until 3:35 before the half, when a bobbled pass was intercepted by Harrison Central sophomore Lance Smith.

The Huskies had just one first down to its credit at that point, but QB Brady Hyre had other ideas. He started probing the hosts with quick-hitters before finishing the scoring drive with a 17-yard strike to Kayne Dunkle, who fought into the end zone just ahead of halftime.

“We were a little flat,” Coach Hayes admitted. “I told them our knife wasn’t very sharp tonight, to start with. We challenged them at halftime, and those kids answered the bell.”

Good thing, because Bellaire kept coming. Led by junior QB Michael Dippel and junior WR Kole Gonglik, the Big Reds once again racked up huge passing numbers. Dippel went 19-for-28 for 258 yards and two scores, with Gonglik catching nine for 193. The last Dippel-to-Gonglik connection covered 50 yards to paydirt, giving the hosts a 26-14 advantage with 9:39 left in the game.

That’s when HC started clicking on the run-option attack, with RB Beau Rinkes blasting up the middle, or QB Hyre would keep around the end for delightful results. Hyre twice broke free off the right side for gains of 40-plus yards. One came immediately after Bellaire’s final tally, which helped HC make it a 26-21 game just one minute afterward.

“Unfortunately/fortunately, we are forced to try many different things,” Hayes said of his offense. “We had to dig deep into the toolbox tonight, and we’re just lucky our kids can handle that.”

After holding Bellaire to three-and-out, HC started its decisive drive on the Bellaire 40 thanks to a fine Waylon Hodkinson punt return. With Rinkes successfully following interior linemen Kayson Hidey, Nathan Dulkoski and Dylan Walters, HC was able to move downfield and punch it in as Hyre finished it on a keeper up the middle.

The two-pointer out of the single-wing offense made it 29-26.

But Bellaire still had 2:08 left, and Dippel is a different animal who throws a ball with a lot of hair on it. Despite starting at his own five after a couple of penalties, Dippel directed his squad all the way down to the HC 13 before stalling. Dippel now has well over 1,800 passing yards on the season.

“I’m usually not at a loss for words, but I am tonight,” said Hayes. “I’m just proud of these kids. It’s a beautiful thing to continue to watch these kids grow.”