Hanover Central Wildcats tame the Michigan City Wolves

Like most high schools, starting sometime in August, the football season begins. This year for Hanover Central it began against a team a division higher and a team that defeated them 31-0 in 2025. Over the past ten seasons, Michigan City High School football came into this game with a record of 6-1 in games against 4A Indiana high schools, a division beneath their 5A position. (My record keeping faced a little bit of a hurdle as in 2013, Indiana expanded from a five division state to a six division state.)

Anyways, Michigan City had a track record of defeating 4A schools since that expansion in 2013. They’ve been impressive. I expected a close game, especially with a large amount of players coming back from that team that lost to Michigan City last year. What we got was almost the exact opposite, a final score of 28-10, the Wildcats over the Wolves. I don’t think the score tells the full story of the game. It was 28-3 up until City’s Meekael Laurent took a punt to the house. That came with about 2 minutes left in the game, and City didn’t allow the pursuing onside kick to go far enough to even give them a chance for the ball again. To be fair, Cory Haessley was a beast on defense, leading the way with 6 tackles, 2 for losses including a big sack. You heard it hear first… as good as Haessley is going to be this season, watch out for Ben Baswell. He’s worked his way into playing time and did not disappoint week one.  

Let me walk you through how this game looked. Hanover got the ball first, they drove down the field using short quick passes to Anthony Layman and Geoffrey Resney, or quick runs to runnings backs Dominic Giglio or Davion Rivers. These runs would be right up the gut for the most part, but occasional end arounds proved solid gains. This same molded offense continued the rest of the game. While Michigan City’s offense opted to go against running to the outside, despite having great speed. To be fair, Junior Jaiden Baker had some lofty expectations after seeing what Trinaston (Trin) Hart was able to do at the QB position last season. Baker missed a few passes that could have been good gains, but I’d like to chalk that up to first game of the season jitters. Baker is going to settle in and be just fine back there for the Wolves. 

I would like to spend some more time on the Wildcat offense, because what they did tonight was special. They drew an insane amount of offside, encroachment, neutral zone infractions, against a very well coached team. Wyatt Tewell was in his bag of tricks. Ben Baswell got some touches in the backfield and was productive. What really set the Wildcats apart was their offensive line. I wouldn’t say they had a size advantage, it was pretty even, but wow it looked like the Wildcats wanted it more, which is a huge testament not only to the players, but to the coaching staff and athletic department getting guys ready to rock and roll. The Michigan City defense has to take a look at some coverages as they were burnt by a seam route by Anthony Layman, a quick slant by Geoffrey Resney, both were perfectly read and executed throws by Wyatt Tewell. This Hanover team is going to be dangerous, and I mean very dangerous when conference play comes around. However, besides those two big plays on throws, the coverage wasn’t bad for Michigan City. Dai’len Burnett shut down Jacob Ferko for the most part only allowing one catch for 5 yards. When K’yLon Barnes was in the game, his coverage was pretty solid forcing an errant throw by Tewell to the inside instead of the outside on a seam route. I will add that defensive lineman Dezmon Howard has NCAA potential. He was pivotal in stopping a few runs and contained Tewell to force a strip sack in the third quarter. It wasn’t all bad for City, there were really good parts of the game for them.

 

Hanover Central just out performed them. I’m not sure if it was from the neon packed student section chanting every defensive play, the opening day jitters and excitement, or if Hanover is just a dominant team this season… but whatever it was, I can’t wait to see more of it. Head Coach Tony Bartolomeo has a chance to take this team a far way this season, and I’m sure he’s going to take every chance to along with his staff. 

I’d like to take a second to thank the Hanover Central Athletic Department. Their AD, Ryan Bridges, welcomed me with open arms. Their entire staff at the game was kind and helpful, from the middle school staff to their chain gang, everyone was just enjoying the weather and good football. Even the Michigan City sideline was friendly despite the loss. I was chatting with a few of their photographers, their athletic director and a few admin. All around this was a great experience for me and Behind the Coaching. 

Continue following Behind the Coaching as Ian M. Ryan goes to Oak Forest High School on Friday, August 28th for their game against Stagg High School. Ryan will be following high school football games all fall!