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Tigers' Hall makes history

Last week, Northwestern's Harry Hall wrote another chapter in what has been a storybook career.

In a gritty, come-from-behind win over Salisbury, Hall once again had all the right moves. The senior rushed for 191 yards on 32 carries and two critical scores in the 30-21 victory.The performance helped the Tigers (4-2) keep pace in a crowded Colonial League field, but also allowed Hall to take another step in his journey toward cementing himself as one of Northwestern's all-time greats.On what was his 21st carry of the night, Hall gained 12 yards and a first down, but also reached 141 yards in the game, making him the all-time leading rusher in Northwestern history. Hall eclipsed the mark of 4,281 yards set by Brett Snyder, the brother of current Northwestern mentor Josh Snyder.Hall's two touchdowns gave him 49 for his career, tying him with his head coach for second all-time and leaving him just two shy of Brett's career mark of 51.Those feats were more than enough to help Hall earn Times News Player of the Week honors.The accomplishments also didn't come as a surprise to Josh, who has watched Hall assert himself as one of the area's top playmakers over the past few seasons."Harry's had a lot of those type of games over the course of the last three years," Snyder said of Hall, who now has 4,332 yards rushing for his career. "This year, he has a little bit more on his plate, I think, because we don't quite have the athletes surrounding him that we did in the past, though we still have very capable guys."The league is also a lot better, so we're counting on him to carry the ball anywhere between 20-and-30 times each and every week. What's difficult about that is the fact that the other team knows that, too, so they're putting a lot of guys at the line of scrimmage and he knows he's running into a loaded box."After leading the Tigers in rushing yards (1,694), carries (210), rushing touchdowns (15), solo tackles (46) and sacks (6) last year, Hall has taken on an even bigger role for Northwestern during his senior campaign.Through the first six weeks of the season, Hall is second in the TN area with 925 yards rushing and third in touchdowns with 13.Though he may not be so much of a vocal leader, Hall has no problem letting his play speak for itself.And he knew his team needed everything he had last Friday against a dangerous Salisbury team if Northwestern was to keep its postseason hopes alive."I knew it was a turning point in our season," said Hall. "We were coming off a loss (27-21) to Saucon Valley and every game is a must-win game from here on out."On a night with so much at stake, Snyder knew Hall wouldn't need any extra motivation."I knew he was going to be pretty excited for a homecoming game where a lot of his friends from last year and team members (from last year) were in attendance," Snyder said. "And it was kind of a must-win for us from a district standpoint."I don't know if it gave him anything extra, but we get that type of effort each and every week from him."While his offensive exploits are well-documented, Hall also prides himself on being a standout player on both sides of the ball, and it shows. Against Salisbury, Hall became the eighth player in Northwestern history to reach 300 tackles (305), and his 134 solo tackles are tied for the school record with Brett Snyder.It's an achievement Hall takes great pride in."We're not really like the bigger schools that can have guys that don't start on both sides (of the ball)," said Hall, who is a linebacker for the Tigers. "So it's really important for every single guy to be able to play both ways."It's been a big deal to have guys step up, because going both ways you know there will be guys that get injured since they're on the field twice as much. We just have to be able to step up where others can't."Hall will look to run wild again this week against Southern Lehigh.