After a back-and-forth first half in which the two teams mirrored each other in nearly every phase – yardage, penalties and scoring – Howard broke the mirror and Brainerd’s hopes with a dominating second half Saturday night.
After leading by just one point at halftime, Howard’s Hustlin’ Tigers scored 20 unanswered points in the final two quarters to pull away for a 33-12 nonregion high school football win at Brainerd.
“I was very pleased with the effort, but especially in the second half,” Howard coach John Starr said. “We looked a little shell-shocked in the first half. Maybe it was first-game jitters. But we settled down and got physical in the second half.”
Bruising sophomore running back Devontay Davis helped the Hustlin’ Tigers take control by rushing for 83 of his 134 yards in the deciding half.
“To begin the season by coming here and beating Brainerd on their field means everything to us,” said Davis, who scored two touchdowns. “We had worked hard coming into this game, so this was a great way for that to pay off.