By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Josh Henderson has found a way to make the most of it each time he touches the ball this season for the Hun School football team.
Henderson, a junior, has scored six touchdowns in the first three games of the season for the Raiders.
Last Saturday in a 61-28 victory over Capital Prep Charter of Trenton, Henderson carried the ball 11 times and amassed 300 yards rushing and three touchdowns. His performance in the win earned him Offensive Back of the Week honors from the 12th Man Touchdown Club.
“I try to make the most out of every carry,” said Henderson, who is in his second season as the Raiders’ starting tailback. “You have to shoot for the end zone every time you touch the ball. It doesn’t matter how many carries I have as long as the team is winning. A lot of it is that we have a great offensive line again this year. We have CJ (Williams), Jordan (Morris) and Caedan (Wallace) back and we brought in Bobby Haskins and Ben Wild. They are a great group and I like feel it gets better as the season goes on. They make my job easier.”
Henderson opened the season by rushing for 125 yards on five carries, scoring a pair of touchdowns in a 63-6 victory over Royal Imperial Collegiate of Canada. He rushed for 48 yards in four carries, while also catching two passes for 89 yards and a touchdown in a 48-0 victory over Stellar Prep of California.
In guiding Hun to a 3-0 start, Henderson has rushed for 473 yards on 20 carries, which is an impressive 23.6 yards per carry.
“We have a lot of weapons this year,” Hun coach Todd Smith said of his offense, which is averaging 57 points a game this season. “The moral of the story is if we call their number they need to make the most of it. We’re trying to spread the ball around. Josh didn’t have the best game in week two. They were taking away the run and giving us the pass. In week three, the run was there.
“The offensive line did a great job run blocking. He doesn’t need that much of a hole. Josh was a 1,000 yard rusher for us last year and also had about 300 receiving yards. He’s also a starting free safety for us.”
The Raiders will take a 25-game winning streak into their game on Friday against Friendship Collegiate of Washington, D.C. Hun has not lost since the opening game of the 2014 season and has its sights set on a fourth straight Mid-Atlantic Prep League championship.
“We have a good team and we’re looking forward to continuing this win streak we have here,” said Henderson, a Pennington resident. “It is important that we fix the mistakes we make every game. We give each team we play a lot of respect.
“We really just want to keep winning no matter what team we play. That is the main goal.”
After playing Friendship Collegiate, the Raiders will finish the season with five straight MAPL games. Henderson will be looking to continue doing what he has been doing so far this season. His own statistics don’t matter as much as the final result on the scoreboard. But even Henderson had to admit that his numbers from last weekend were eye-popping.
“It was pretty special,” Henderson said of the 300-yard rushing performance. “That was all the offensive line and Coach Smith with some good play calls. I think our offensive line is our strong suit and they played a great game.”
Now in his third season with the Raiders, Henderson is happy to be a part of the program. And he’s proud of the fact the team hasn’t lost a game since he stepped on campus.
“Hun is a great place for both academics and athletics,” Henderson said. “Football is just something we all love and I think the best trait is we don’t play for ourselves. We all just want to keep winning. It comes down to playing for the guy next to you rather than yourself. That plays a huge role in our success.”
Hun has one more game to play before beginning its quest for another MAPL title.
“We got really banged up all three games,” Smith said. “We lost some kids with season-ending injuries. Bur we had kids step up. We will be a little shorthanded but we will do the best we can. This is our last game and then the MAPL starts.
“I have been happy with our offense. (Quarterback Patrick) Holly has been over 300 yards all three games. This past week he threw for 334 yards and the week before he was over 400. He’s doing a nice job managing the game. He has progressed a lot. I guess you kind of have to pick your poison with us when it comes to what you are going to try to stop.”
