With the temperature near 100 degrees at kickoff, it turns out the cheerleaders from HLV may have been the hardest-working bunch Friday night at LaSalle Field.

Each time their team scored against woefully undermanned and over-matched Cedar Valley Christian, two of the girls did push-ups while the rest did jumping-jacks for each point on the scoreboard.

By the time the score reached 70-6 at halftime, they cut back to just one push-up or jumping-jack for every 10 points.

And it was then, too, that the home team Cedar Valley Huskies asked that the game be called.

“After consulting with the officials and both coaches, we've decided to end the game because of the heat and humidity and for the health of the players,” said Cedar Valley Principal Jeff Pospisil.

They'd already been playing for more than two hours, with several timeouts for water breaks.

The Huskies had started out with just 12 players dressed for their season opener, and two of them had to leave the game after being overcome by heat. One of them, starting end Tom Scroggs, was taken to the hospital by ambulance at halftime, but Coach Ed Betsworth said he thought he was merely dehydrated.

And the rest of the squad was clearly wiped out.

The visiting Warriors, who were undefeated in the regular season last year and lost only in the second round of the playoffs, scored every which way Friday night.

They scored on long runs, one pass, a kickoff return, three interceptions for touchdowns, a fumble recovery in the end zone, a safety and a scooped-up fumble for another TD. The only way they didn't make any points were by kicking.

They ran only 12 offensive plays and made the most of them. Every player on HLV's 32-man roster saw action, as the starters played only the first few minutes.

It was 44-0 before the Huskies finally connected on a beautiful 46-yard scoring pass from Eric Gustafson to Caleb Severson with a minute to go in the first quarter.

Under a mercy ruling, the clock ran continuously for much of the second period.

“What can you say,” the always-upbeat Betsworth remarked afterward. “The kids didn't quit. I certainly can't fault them.

“We knew it would be a tough game against a great team with a lot of depth. And the heat really took a toll on our kids.

“But we've got great kids who made a great effort. That's all you can ask.”

Visiting Coach Kevin Smith, ranked No.8 in the 8-man state rankings and now 1-1 after losing to high-powered Springville 58-14 last week, addressed the Cedar Valley contingent following the blow-out.

“With their low numbers, it's tough on the kids,” he said. “And the heat was just brutal.

“But those kids are playing for the right reason – for the love of the game. And they're learning some valuable lessons about hard work, teamwork and not giving up. They've got the right spirit.”

So, too, do the proud Cedar Valley cheerleaders.

To the end, they were cheering, “Huskies spirit never quits.”

HLV 70, CEDAR VALLEY CHRISTIAN 6
HLV        CVC
First downs          7         3
Rushes-yards         10-103    14-55
Passing-yards        30        77
Comp-Att-Int         1-2-0     2-17-4
Fumbles-lost         0-0       2-2
Punts-avg.           0         0
Penalties-yards      4-45      4-37

HLV           44 26 - 70
CVC            6  0 -  6

Scoring plays

HLV – Nowotny 30 pass from Krigel (run failed)
HLV - Cataldo 27 fumble recovery (Stultz run)
HLV – Safety
HLV - VanOtegham 48 kickoff return (Cataldo run)
HLV – Cataldo 35 pass interception (Stultz run)
HLV – Maschmann fumble recovery in end zone (kick failed)
HLV – Kriegel 24 run (kick failed)
CVC – Severson 46 pass from E. Gustafson (run failed)
HLV – Kaplan 10 run (Newton pass from Doats)
HLV – Kaplan 54 pass interception (run failed)
HLV – Newton 49 pass interception (pass failed)
HLV – Kaplan 23 run (pass failed)

Individual statistics

Rushing
HLV- Cataldo 1-1, Stultz 1-24, Kaplan 5-72, Doats 1-10, Kriegel 2-16.
CVC – K. Ulmer 7-26 Gustafson 6-23, Cechota 1-6.

Passing
HLV -Kriegel 1-1-0-30, Doats 0-1-0-0.
CVC -Gustafson 1-9--2-46, K. Ulmer 1-8-2-31.

Receiving
HLV – Nowotny 1-30.
CVC – Severson 1-46, Scroggs 1-31.