Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn decided against putting in some overtime. The Hawks broke a tie with two scores in the final seconds to defeat Akron-Westfield 43-34 September 20 at Hartley.
HMS kicker Mattis Octmann nailed a 28-yard field goal with four seconds left to snap a 34-all tie. Then as the Westerners were pitching the ball from player to player in an effort to score a miraculous touchdown, Slayton McCarter snatched the football out of the air and returned it 35 yards for the final points.
“Obviously, at certain moments you’ve got to rely on every aspect of your team and there was our moment for our kicker,” said winning coach Jeremiah Delzer. The Hawk head man was told shortly before the first practice that there was a foreign exchange student from Germany who might be interested in kicking. “He comes out and he’s been great with the guys,” noted Delzer. “He’s been all about it. He just loves it and we love having him here.” The snap was not perfect on the field goal attempt but holder Jack Mastbergen got the ball in position and Octmann banged it through. “We were just cool, calm and collected,” said the coach. “I think Mattis could zero-step a 45 yard field goal if he really wanted to, so that’s always an advantage.”
With 1:02 left in the game, the Hawks took possession of the ball at midfield following an Akron-Westfield punt. Mastbergen rushed for 14 yards and then James Gellerman carried three times to move the ball to the six yard line. “We had an advantaged look and we knew what we wanted to run so that was really nice,” noted Delzer. “We work really hard in practice,” he added. “I think the kids now know this is why we do that tempo stuff at practice so we can be ready to go when it matters most.”
A motion penalty set the Hawks back to the six and a pass was incomplete. With seven seconds on the clock, it was time for Octmann’s heroics.
HMS improved to 2-1 in Class A District 1, joining MMCRU. Sibley-Ocheyedan sits on top of the Dictrict with a 3-0 record. Gehlen Catholic is next at 2-0. The Westerners are tied with South O’Brien at 0-2 while Alta-Aurelia is 0-3. The Hawks are 2-2 overall.
Gellerman rushed for 129 yards and four touchdowns. Mastbergen added another 119 yards on the ground and had by far his most productive game passing. He threw for 194 yards including a short scoring toss to Isaac Schierholz. Jayden Leth caught three passes for 67 yards and Jackson Vogt latched onto four aerials for 50 yards.
“I think we’ve got all our fundamentals down,” said the HMS coach. “Our techniques lack at certain points. We know what we’re trying to do so hopefully now we can start to game plan and scheme and be specific as coaches and say, ‘Where can we add our wrinkles and our gadgets and things like that to kind of take advantage of the defense?’ We don’t have to be so vanilla any more. We know the vanilla stuff so now we can maybe add in the extra toppings as I’ve heard other college coaches say.”
Gellerman recorded eight tackles. Making four stops apiece were Leth, Schierholz, Vogt, Mastbergen, McCarter, Hunter Daggett, Blake Meendering and Alex Billings. Leth also intercepted a pass. “It just comes back to our fundamentals and our techniques,” explained Delzer. “Our preparation was much better this week, I think, and we did a better job of holding through our fundamentals and techniques even when we were tired so I think that’s kind of what led to our defensive success. Our slip ups are just simple things like not wrapping up on a tackle. I think a lot of their big plays came from when we had a guy hit in the backfield and we didn’t get him to the ground. We’ve got to work on things like that and some of that’s energy and just good fundamentals and techniques that we talk every week.”
HMS scored touchdowns on its first three drives but the Westerners answered with two touchdowns of their own. Leth then made his pick and Akron-Westfield was also stopped on fourth down in Hawk territory late in the first half.
Twice in the third quarter HMS went up by two touchdowns. Each team failed to convert a PAT in the that quarter. Octmann was forced to scramble on an aborted kick attempt and later McCarter blocked the Westerners’ kick. Akron-Westfield tied the game at 34-34 with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. A long HMS drive ended in a punt. When the Westerners went three-and-out from their own 20 the stage was set for HMS to win the game.
“I’m just really proud of the kids because they put in a ton of work to learn all this stuff,” said their coach. “In the first half we were doing our tempo stuff. We were on attack. We were ready to roll offensively and I feel like we had them on their heels. If it wasn’t a situation, there was no way they were going to stop us.” The coach saw his team come out flat in the second half but stick together and get the job done. “Most important for really good teams, is when you come out and you find a way to win games and you don’t get on each other and you just lock arms as brothers to finish the game. I was really proud of the kids because of the choices they made to not freak out, because good teams find a way to unite and that’s what we did.”
Up Next:
The Hawks play their second of two non-District games Friday night when they take on Kingsley-Pierson at Kingsley. The Panthers are 2-2 after losing back-to-back games to Westwood and Council Bluffs St. Albert. Said Delzer, “They’re kind of a similar style to us I’d say. They’re going to try to find their advantages and they’re going to try to press you and do what they do. I know we’ll have to come out with a really good defensive game plan to kind of stop their guys because once their guys get rolling they find a way to score points. I think that will be our task for the weekend, to enjoy this and then find how we can game plan best against them for what they do to similar style teams.”
Game time is 7:00 p.m. Friday, September 27 at Kingsley.
A-W 7 7 7 13 – 34
HMS 14 7 13 9 – 43
First Quarter
10:27 HMS – James Gellerman 2 yard run (Mattis Octmann kick) 7-0
6:52 A-W – Tatum Wilken 5 yard run (Nathan Schoenfelder kick) 7-7
3:59 HMS – Gellerman 6 yard run (Octmann kick) 14-7
Second Quarter
11:14 A-W – Wilken 3 yard run (Schoenfelder kick) 14-14
7:37 HMS – Gellerman 7 yard run (Octmann kick) 21-14
Third Quarter
7:18 HMS – Gellerman 4 yard run (Octmann kick) 28-14
5:02 A-W – Wilken 37 yard run (Schoenfelder kick) 28-21
1:37 HMS – Isaac Schierholz 5 yard pass from Jack Mastbergen (2 pt pass fails) 34-21
Fourth Quarter
11:03 A-W – Kaden Netley 6 yard run (kick blocked) 34-27
5:58 A-W – Wilken 7 yard run (Schoenfelder kick) 34-34
0:04 HMS – Octmann 28 yard FG 37-34
0:00 HMS – Slayton McCarter 35 yard fumble return 43-34
Rushing: James Gellerman 31-129, Jack Mastbergen 18-119.
Passing: Mastbergen 12-21, 194 yards, 1 TD.
Receiving: Jayden Leth 3-67; Jackson Vogt 4-50; Gellerman 1-30; Schierholz 3-28, 1 TD; McCarter 1-19.
Tackles: Gellerman 8, Leth, Schierholz, Vogt, Mastbergen, McCarter, Hunter Daggett, Blake Meendering, Alex Billings 4, Luke Dagel 2.
Fumble Recoveries: McCarter 1 (35 yard return), TD.
Interceptions: Leth 1 (15 yard return).
Punt returns: Gellerman 1-11
Punts: Mastbergen 3-112 (37.3 yd avg.).