Hawks make early lead hold up in win over South O’Brien
Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn and South O’Brien renewed their rivalry Friday night on the gridiron. The offense came early, with HMS outscoring the Wolverines three touchdowns to one. A scoreless second half allowed the Hawks to come away with a 22-6 victory September 9 at Hartley.
Hinton and HMS share the top spot in Class A District 1 with 2-0 District records. The Hawks’ lone loss came against Class 1A West Sioux.
HMS won the toss and elected to receive. The faith in the offense was justified as the Hawks scored on their opening possession. Travis Kamradt capped the drive with a 39 yard touchdown run. The Wolverines stuffed the attempt to run for two points.
South O’Brien eschewed its trademark running game for an attack featuring short passes in the flat. “They were trying to play 2-on-2,” observed HMS head coach Jay Eilers. “They didn’t want to play 11-on-11.”
The visitors twice appeared to have tied the game on their second possession but each apparent touchdown was wiped out by a penalty. South O’Brien eventually faced fourth and long and their pass completion came up short.
Given another chance to extend the lead, the Hawks did just that. Again, the touchdown came on a long run, this time a 51-yarder by Kooper Ebel. Kamradt punched it in for two points and HMS took a 14-0 lead.
If the Wolverines needed a pick-me-up, they got one in the form of a 57-yard kickoff return by Sawyer Honkomp, setting them up at the HMS 14. After quarterback Jacob Van Lith converted a fourth-and-one with his legs, he used them again to spin into the end zone from a yard out. Kamradt blocked the extra point and the lead was eight at 14-6.
The Hawks then got a boost from their return team as Ethan Diehm took South O’Brien’s kick back 44 yards to the Wolverine 34. HMS used up nearly all of the remaining five minutes of the half before Ebel ran four yards for a touchdown on fourth down. Again Kamradt added two points with a run and the Hawks carried a 22-6 lead into halftime.
The second half began with an interception by Diehm. The final three Wolverine possessions ended with punts. HMS more successfully combated what South O’Brien was trying to do offensively by walking their outside linebackers, Trenton Vollink, Spencer McCarter and JR Araiza, up to the line of scrimmage. “We weren’t going to let them just have it in the flats,” explained Eilers. “We were going to make them throw it downfield and have our corner deep.”
Meanwhile, on three second-half possessions the Hawks turned the ball over on downs in Wolverine territory. As it turned out, they had already scored enough points to secure bragging rights for the next year.
HMS rushed the ball 51 times with Ebel gaining 172 yards and Kamradt 161. Ebel completed four passes for 60 yards. The receptions came from Diehm, Vollink and Ryan Borden. Uncharacteristically, South O’Brien had only 17 carries and totaled less than 30 yards on the ground. Van Lith passed for an even 100 yards.
“I thought we played very physical,” said Eilers. “Our physicality is what we asked our kids to do. I compliment their (South O’Brien) defensive scheme, their blitz packages. They had so many people at the line of scrimmage that it really affected our pull scheme of how many people can we pull and get through the hole. That’s something that we want to do is get multiple people through the hole and they limited that tonight, based on their blitz package. Great defensive efforts by their kids and great coaching. But just proud of our kids, of the way we stepped up. I felt we were in some tough positions a couple times, but each time we answered the bell, so I was proud of them.”
Up next: Among the highlights of Homecoming at HMS will be this Friday’s football game against MMCRU. Last week the Royals lost a 21-20 heartbreaker at home to Akron-Westfield and are 0-2 in the District. They won their opener 38-22 over Cherokee. “They’re moving the ball very well,” complimented Eilers. “I think they’re going to force us to play 2-on-2 so we better get better playing 2-on-2. We better find ways to be creative. Based off scores, they’re much improved. I know they’re going to be ready to play. The other thing is, you can’t let Homecoming activities affect our process. I love Homecoming but the process can’t change.” Eilers believes he will be joined by his players in stressing that. “It’s amazing to me how well our leaders echo my coaching,” he said. “They’re phenomenal kids and I can just see how successful they’re going to be in life, which is rewarding.”
Kickoff for the Homecoming game is 7:00 p.m. Friday, September 16 at Hartley.
S. O’Brien 0 6 0 0 – 6
HMS 6 16 0 0 – 22
First Quarter
10:53 HMS – Travis Kamradt 39 yard run (2 pt run failed) 6-0
Second Quarter
6:28 HMS – Kooper Ebel 51 yard run (Kamradt 2 pt run) 14-0
5:06 S. O’Brien – Jacob Van Lith 1 yard run (kick blocked) 14-6
0:39 HMS – Ebel 4 yard run (Kamradt 2 pt run) 22-6
Rushing: Ebel 22-172, 2 TD; Kamradt 29-161, 1 TD.
Passing: Ebel 4-7, 60 yards.
Receiving: Ethan Diehm 2-21, Ryan Borden 1-27, Trenton Vollink 1-12.
Leading Tacklers: Ebel 6.5 (5 solos); Kamradt 5 (4); Lance Behrends 4 (3 solos, 1 sack); Vollink 3.5 (3); Diehm 3.5 (3); Elijah Groeneweg 2.5 (2 solos, 1 sack), Ethan Wiersma 2.5 (2); Ethan Baker 2.5 (2); Keevyn Jacobsma 2.5 (2).
Interceptions: Diehm 1-13 yard return.
Kickoff returns: Diehm 1-44.
Kickoffs: Vollink 2-55, Ebel 1-13.
Punts: Ebel 1-44.