Hampton twins carry Homewood-Flossmoor to convincing win

For Homewood-Flossmoor, it wasn’t how the Vikings started, it was how they finished.

A week after seeing an early 20-point lead evaporate in a loss at Lincoln-Way East, the Vikings turned to the Harley-Hampton twins, who combined for six rushing touchdowns and nearly 300 yards in offense.

The performance by the junior brothers helped H-F overcome a poor start and coast to a 47-18 victory over Sandburg in a SouthWest Suburban Blue tussle on Friday night in Flossmoor.

With the win H-F (4-2, 3-1) stays in the hunt for the conference title heading into next week’s showdown at Bolingbrook. Sandburg (3-3, 2-2) will have to win two of its final three games in order to qualify for the playoffs for the seventh straight season.

The Vikiings are closer to another playoff berth thanks to the performance of Deante Harley-Hampton (17 carries, 149 yards, 3 TD) and Devonte Harley-Hampton (14 carries, 101 yards, 3 TD, 5 receptions, 44 yards).

“Our whole game plan was to finish strong,” Devonte Harley-Hampton said. “[Deante] and I have the vision. We might have started slow, but we wanted to finish strong and plan to do that the rest of the year.”

Devonte Harley-Hampton, who had a 50-yard TD gallop in the first half, scored on a a pair of one-yard runs in the second half. The second of which, put H-F ahead 40-18 with 11:57 to play in the game. Reserve quarterback Trevor Johnson rounded out the scoring by taking off for a 59-yard touchdown run with 4:15 remaining.

“This is our best game so far,” Deante Harley-Hampton said of the sibbling effort. “I wouldn’t want to share the ball with anyone else except my brother. It was just a matter of executing our plays. As long as we execute our plays, we’ll be fine.”

The Vikings didn’t execute to open the game, turning the ball over on their first two possessions. But their defense held Sandburg to just a 44-yard field goal by Jonathan Milazzo, which gave the Eagles a 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

Devonte Harley-Hampton put H-F on top for good with his 50-yard TD Run and, following a fumbled kickoff, Deante Harley-Hampton scored from a yard out and the Vikings had two touchdowns in 28 seconds.

Sandburg closed the gap to 13-10 on a two-yard TD run by Jim Robley midway though the second quarter. Robley also scored from a yard out late in the third quarter. But the Eagles couldn’t muster much on offense, as they were limited to 26 first-half yards.

Deante Harley-Hampton sliced his way for a 53-yard TD run to help H-F go up 21-10 at halftime. He added a three-yard TD run in the third quarter. Viking quarterback Bryce Gray was 13-of-19 with an interception for 163 yards. H-F had six quarterback sacks, two each by Michael Hall and Tyler Newkirk.

“They’re capable of doing that and can strike lightning at any time with their speed,” Sandburg coach Dave Wierzal said of the Harley-Hampton twins. “But I still thought we showed some abilities and the game was closer than the final score.”

It was the Vikings fourth victory over Sandburg in the past three years, including 49-14 in the opening round of the Class 8A playoffs last season.