Hoover football handed league defeat by Arcadia

ARCADIA — No matter where he sat or stood, the view wasn’t pretty for Hoover High football Coach Andrew Policky on Friday night.

Policky spent the first half of Hoover’s Pacific League road game against Arcadia in the pressbox before returning to the sideline for the second half.

Unfortunately for Policky and the Tornadoes, it didn’t matter where the coach was, as things didn’t turn out for the best as Hoover suffered a 49-6 defeat.

Hoover dropped to 2-4, 0-3 in league after beginning its season with two straight wins for the first time since 2005.

“I was in the press box because I wanted to get a better sense of our team,” said Policky, a former wide receiver/cornerback at Arcadia. “I felt like we had not made enough corrections from last week against Muir, so I wanted to give our coordinators a chance.

“We have some things to still work on. We had some opportunities tonight to score and we didn’t take advantage of it.”

Arcadia, now led by former Hoover Coach Chris Long, improved to 2-4, 2-1. The Apaches, who split the league championship with Burroughs last season, got a huge effort from Joey Willm. Willm, a wide receiver, gave the Apaches a boost by rushing for two touchdowns and catching two for scores. He finished with 74 yards of total offense.

“He’s our senior leader and we wanted to get him involved,” said Long, who served as Hoover’s coach from 2008-10. “He went out there and responded in a big way.

“All week long, we wanted to work on our tackling because we knew Hoover would run the ball. We came out and played ball.”

Arcadia took a 7-0 lead when Willm scored on a two-yard run with 3:41 left in the first quarter.

Willm then made it 14-0 when he zig-zagged around five Hoover defenders and scored on a 22-yard run with 4:23 left in the second quarter. The Apaches scored a pair of touchdowns 61 seconds apart late in the first half. Arcadia made it 21-0 when quarterback Zachary Lee lateraled to wide receiver Cameron Tuck, who then found Willm wide open down the left sideline for a 34-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-0 with 1:44 left. Willm then hauled in a 41-yard touchdown pass from Lee to extend the advantage to 28-0 with 43 seconds left.

A six-yard touchdown run by Lee gave Arcadia a 35-0 lead with 9:50 remaining in the third quarter. Darius Elliot made it 42-0 on a 79-yard run with 1:02 left in the third frame.

Arcadia and Hoover swapped fourth-quarter touchdowns.

The Tornadoes made it 42-6 when quarterback Brendon Kerr found an uncovered Alvin Kim wide open for a 21-yard touchdown pass with 9:43 left. The Apaches closed out the scoring when Jeremy Elliott scored on a 21-yard run with 4:37 remaining.

Policky, who served as defensive coordinator under Long at Hoover, said he’s learned a lot from Long.

“He was my defensive coordinator at Arcadia and we’ve built a great relationship,” said Policky, who saw Kerr complete 10 of 20 passes for 92 yards and two interceptions. “Going into the game, you try not to think about it.

“We are both trying to get ready for the game.”

Long said Policky has the Tornadoes on the right track.

“He’s a hard worker and he cares about those kids,” Long said. “I have nothing but love and respect for him.

“He’s a great coach who will do a great job with them.”