West Sioux hands Hawks a 51-7 loss in season opener
It was a tough start to the season. Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn saw four first half possessions end in punts and two others end with fumbles. West Sioux scored 23 points in the second quarter and 21 more in the fourth and beat the Hawks 51-7 August 25 at Hawarden.
Each team was a playoff team last season, HMS in Class A and the Falcons in 1A. Each team lost some key pieces from last year but on Friday night West Sioux seemed closer to finishing the puzzle. Sophomore quarterback Blake Wiggins threw a pair of touchdown passes and rushed for three more scores. Junior Tranquillino Flores Topete rushed for a score, caught a touchdown pass and booted a 34-yard field goal as the Falcons took a 16-0 lead. By halftime the score was 30-0.
“Defensively, I do think we were sitting on our heels,” said HMS head coach Jay Eilers. “Part of it is their passing game does a nice job of making you respect the downfield stuff, but another part is: football is played downhill. Let’s play downhill.” The coach thought his athletes may have tried to do too much. “You see the scoreboard and you think, ‘Okay, this isn’t working. I’m going to do this.’ And then there’s a breakdown there, rather than just saying, ‘Hey, we need you to be coachable from what we ask you to do on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Just stay with those things.’ It’s hard because you’re a teenager and are like, ‘Dang, I feel like I’m doing what coach wants me to, and this isn’t working, so I need to do this.’ Hey, we’re just going to ask you to do your one-eleventh. We’re going to ask you to do your job. And then we’re going to ask all eleven to do it at the same time.”
The coach was pleased with the Hawks’ opening drive of the second half which took over six-and-a-half minutes off the clock. It ended when HMS failed to convert on fourth-and-two. “I thought we had a really good play to try to get us a first down,” noted Eilers. “We ended up making a mistake, which mistakes happen. We’ll learn from them. But how much time we took off the clock in that series, and to shorten games like that is something that we are going to have to be able to do moving forward.”
The Hawks finally got on the board in the fourth quarter. Jr Araiza’s kickoff return to midfield gave HMS excellent starting position. Quarterback Jack Mastbergen ran it in from 38 yards out T.J. Jans added the extra point. For the game Mastbergen rushed for 94 yards, Araiza 49 and Ethan Wiersma 32. Mastbergen completed two of six passes, one to Araiza for 11 yards and the other two Evan Eilers for two yards.
The leading tacklers were Wiersma, Aidan Espeland, Bradley Van Beek and David Wetrich. Eilers recorded a sack.
Eilers believes that confidence is the key word moving forward. Said the coach, “We had quite a few young men raise their hand, ‘Hey this is the first varsity game I’ve played in my career.’ So, I think that confidence has got to come from their experiences. I think those flashes, we’re going to do a good job as coaching staff to represent on Monday, ‘Hey, this is who we can be, but these are the details, these are the processes that we’re going to have to go through to make sure that it’s consistent.’ The thing is, I know these kids want it. There’s a desire. They proved it all winter. They proved it all summer. We’re going to be ready for week two, I know that.”
Up Next:
The Hawks are on the road again this week. They open up play in Class A District 1 against Alta-Aurelia at Alta. The Warriors are coming off a 27-7 loss at Kingsley-Pierson. Alta-Aurelia’s quarterback is Camden Reinert, the son of Warrior head coach Chris Reinert. “I know their quarterback play is going to be good,” said Eilers. “When you have coaches’ sons as quarterbacks, they get coached up 24-7. I think they coach them during their sleep. So, I know they’re going to be good. But I think the focus is: How do we help our kids get better? I like the process that we use during the week. I like the process of teaching film. I like the process of teaching practice. We’re going to stay with that process to build these kids up. I’m ready for next week already. Let’s get this taste out our mouth and let’s go.
Game time is 7:00 p.m. Friday, September 1 at Alta.
HMS 0 0 0 7 – 7
WS 7 23 0 21 – 51
First Quarter
6:39 WS – Tranquillino Flores Topete 25 yard run (Topete kick) 0-7
Second Quarter
8:10 WS – Topete 70 yard pass from Blake Wiggins (2 pt attempt failed) 0-13
5:17 WS – Topete 34 yard FG 0-16
2:37 WS – Kody Eisma 42 yard pass from Wiggins (Topete kick) 0-23
0:14 WS – Wiggins 2 yard run (Topete kick) 0-30
Fourth Quarter
10:16 WS – Wiggins 15 yard run (Topete kick) 0-37
7:44 HMS – Jack Mastbergen 38 yard run (T.J. Jans kick) 7-37
3:26 WS – Wiggins 3 yard run (Topete kick) 7-44
0:44 WS – Gavin Gerritson 3 yard run (Topete kick) 7-51
Rushing: Mastbergen 17-94, TD; Jr Araiza 14-49; Ethan Wiersma 7-32.
Passing: Mastbergen 2-6, 13 yards.
Receiving: Araiza 1-11, Evan Eilers 1-2.
Leading Tacklers: Ethan Wiersma 4.5 (3 solos), Aidan Espeland 4 solos, David Wetrich 3.5 (3), Bradley Van Beek 3.5 (3), Adam Schierholz 2.5 (2), Bryce Ortega 2.5 (2), Eilers 1 sack.
Kickoff returns: Araiza 1-41, Mastbergen 2-24.
Kickoffs: T.J. Jans 2-118.
Punts: Mastbergen 3-65 (21.7 avg).