South Fayette’s Hayes used smarts to become O-R’s Player of the Year
South Fayette’s Hunter Hayes is the Observer-Reporter’s Football Player of the Year for the 2015 season.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac South Fayette’s Hunter Hayes ran for 1,381 yard and 21 touchdowns for the Lions this fall.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter South Fayette’s Hunter Hayes is the Observer-Reporter’s football player of the year for the 2015 season.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter South Fayette’s Hunter Hayes is the Observer-Reporter’s football player of the year for the 2015 season.
When adversity arises, high school football players often rely on improvisation.
With limited practice time, it’s difficult to expect high school players to approach the sport like a college or professional player. Knowing every detail of two playbooks and having the knowledge to read an opponent’s tendencies takes time and dedication, so a bit of freelancing is only natural.
Hunter Hayes defied expectations for any high school athlete, balancing his time studying for coursework with a different kind of analysis. The South Fayette senior was a coach on the field and a superb student in the classroom.
When head coach Joe Rossi needed someone to take control of a defense that lost the bulk of its starters from a championship season, he turned to Hayes to make quick changes based on an opponent’s formation. Oh, and he asked his captain to do it at multiple positions.
Hayes embraced every play, every moment and every chance to display what hard work and studying game film can do for a football player. It added up to another memorable season and the 6-1, 195-pound running back being named the Observer-Reporter Player of the Year.
He finished his career with two WPIAL Class AA championships, two state titles and 3,954 rushing yards with 59 touchdowns. Plus, a dozen offers to continue his football career in college and maintains a 4.1 grade-point average.
“It’s a bit of a challenge to balance it all, but it’s all worth it in the end,” Hayes said. “It’s just as rewarding to watch film as it is to study for a test. Getting a win is just as rewarding as getting an A on a test. That kind of preparation was key for me.”
After South Fayette lost its starting linebackers from 2014, Hayes was asked to shift from safety to outside linebacker, being tasked with getting his 10 teammates aligned and make changes at the line of scrimmage based on the opponent’s formation.
The hours spent watching film Thursday night at home or throughout the week at South Fayette Stadium with his teammates, showed Hayes how to attack opponents’ weaknesses on offense and defense.
It helped him contain an opponent’s top player, including Beaver quarterback Darius Wise in the WPIAL quarterfinals. Hayes had 47 tackles with six passes defended and returned two interceptions for touchdowns. He was even asked to cover slot receivers.
When he missed most of the second half of the WPIAL title game against Aliquippa because of an injury, the Lions’ defense struggled, allowing 22 points in a 44-38 loss.
Though his replacement, Jasper Wolfe, played well, the senior was not experienced in making adjustments before the snap and Aliquippa took advantage.
“Hunter made all the checks. We missed a couple of those at Heinz Field,” Rossi said. “We played Wolfe, who was phenomenal, but he didn’t have the experience to make some of the checks and got caught a couple of times. Hunter’s knowledge back there was huge. He was big for us on defense.”
Hayes’ rise to being the area’s top player began on South Fayette’s junior varsity team. In 2013, as the team went undefeated, he caught the attention of the varsity coaches – running hard in practice and looking nothing like a sophomore facing a team dominated by impressive upperclassmen.
When Rossi needed a running back to spell Grant Fetchet in the second half in the WPIAL title game, he turned to Hayes. After helping the Lions beat Aliquippa, he started at cornerback during the state playoff run, including the title game win at Hershey Park Stadium.
Holding himself to the highest standard and working hard in practice didn’t stop after he secured a starting spot. As the Lions’ winning streak reached 44 games this fall, it was Hayes who was still the talk of the coaching staff’s post game meetings throughout the season.
“He’s just so hard on himself. He wants to be perfect,” Rossi said. “If you watch an end zone view of a run and he didn’t see the cutback lane, right away he notices it and continues to work. He treated Monday practices like he was preparing for the Super Bowl.”
The ascension led to a junior season that saw Hayes run for 33 touchdowns and help the Lions to a second consecutive perfect season. Hayes’ work on the field and in the classroom caught the attention of college coaches. His offers include Columbia, Cornell, the Air Force Academy, Army, Penn and Bucknell. With plans to become a doctor, it was the analytical approach and work ethic that helped Hayes cap his career with a 1,381-yard, 21-touchdown season.
He can now revel in the fact that during his four-year career, the Lions only lost two games and made three trips to Heinz Field.
“It’s crazy to look back at it,” Hayes said. “When you’re running with a 44-game winning streak, you aren’t really thinking about it too much. When it’s over, it’s, ‘Wow, we did that.’ Not many classes go through a program having two losses. It’s incredible.”