Hawks beat Alta-Aurelia 51-16 to retain district lead
Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn solidified its position at the top of Class A District 1 with a 51-16 victory over Alta-Aurelia September 23 at Alta. The Hawks are 4-0 in the District. Chasing them are Hinton, Gehlen Catholic and South O’Brien, who are all 2-1. The Hawks have beaten Gehlen and South O’Brien and will play Hinton October 7.
HMS, now 4-1 on the season, held the Warriors to one score in each of the two halves. The Hawks were stopped on downs on their first possession, but then scored on their next three drives and led 28-8 at halftime.
Each team scored the first time it had the ball in the second half and the HMS lead was 36-16. The Hawks added another touchdown and then turned away Alta-Aurelia at the HMS two yard line. The Hawks took over five minutes off the fourth-quarter clock before losing a fumble deep in Warrior territory. They got ball right back when Travis Kamradt intercepted a pass and returned it 11 yards to the Alta-Aurelia five. Two plays later Kamradt scored from a yard out to record the last of his three short-range touchdown runs. After one final defensive stop, HMS was able to run out the clock.
Kamradt gained 130 yards on 27 carries. Kooper Ebel had a better average gain on the night as he toted the ball 22 times for 240 yards and rushing touchdowns of 51 and 40 yards. Ebel also tossed scoring passes of 10 yards to James Gellerman and 26 yards to Ryan Borden. In each case the receiver had come wide open. Ebel threw for 132 yards in all as he also targeted Keevyn Jacobsma, Ethan Diehm and Kamradt.
“That’s something I felt like we were going to be able to do,” indicated HMS head coach Jay Eilers. “Kids are catching the ball so I appreciate that. Koop does a tremendous job of moving the ball around.”
This was more of a grind-it-out game for the Hawks, one they are more than willing to play. “They took the big play away from us,” noted Eilers. “They started with bringing the linebackers up and blitzing. We kind of made an adjustment, our buck sweep, and kept one of our guards in, concerned about their blitz.” Eilers complimented the Warriors on the style of defense they played, the effort with which they played and their ability to tackle. “I tip my hat to them,” said the coach. “Their d-line was flat physical.”
Passing plays were key components of the two Alta-Aurelia scoring drives. “I felt both of them were just making catches by their kids,” remarked Eilers. “On one, if the kid had clipped his fingernails today, he wouldn’t have made it.”
The Hawks came up with five sacks in the game, including two by Lance Berends and one each by Elijah Groeneweg, Kamradt and Ebel. Adam Schierholz was also credited with half a sack. Kamradt finished with 8 tackles, Ebel 7.5 and Berends and Gellerman each with 6.5. Ethan Wiersma joined Kamradt in intercepting a pass and Borden recovered a fumble. “Great effort from both offensive and defensive players,” concluded Eilers.
Up next: The Hawks play their final non-district game of the regular season this Friday when defending Class A champion West Hancock comes to town. The Eagles topped HMS twice last season at their place, including the quarterfinal round of the playoffs. West Hancock is 5-0 this season and top ranked in Class A. This season the Eagles have rushed for nearly 2000 yards and have the thrown the ball less than 30 times. “They’re really good,” commented Eilers. “They’re number one in the state for a reason. They won a state title last year for a reason. But that’s last year. We’ve got some goals. We’re attacking some goals and we’re coming after things. We’ve got some really, really good players. The number one thing that I learned last year from those two games is: we’re just going to do what we do. We’re going to stay focused. Again, the process will stay the same. We’re going to enjoy this week and we’re going to play really good football next Friday.”
Kickoff is 7:00 p.m. Friday, September 30 at Hartley.
HMS 8 20 16 7 – 51
A-A 0 8 8 0 – 16
First Quarter
3:33 HMS – Travis Kamradt 3 yard run (Kamradt 2 pt run) 8-0
Second Quarter
6:01 HMS – Kamradt 2 yard run (Korey Ebel 2 pt run) 16-0
4:16 A-A – Gavin Sleezer 53 yard pass from Cale Brechwald (Sam Colerick 2 pt pass from Brechwald) 16-8
3:20 HMS – Ebel 51 yard run (2 pt run failed) 22-8
0:07 HMS – James Gellerman 10 yard pass from Ebel (2pt run short) 28-8
Third Quarter
9:28 A-A – Kaden Stites 15 yard pass from Brechwald (Stites 2 pt run) 28-16
4:56 HMS – Ebel 40 yard run (Ryan Borden 2 pt pass from Ebel) 36-16
3:05 HMS – Borden 26 yard pass from Ebel (Kamradt 2pt pass from Ebel) 44-16
Fourth Quarter
5:55 HMS – Kamradt 1 yard run (Ebel kick) 51-16
Rushing: Ebel 22-240, 2 TD; Kamradt 27-130, 3 TD.
Passing: Ebel 7-13, 132 yards, 2 TD, 1 int.
Receiving: Borden 2-51, 1 TD; Keevyn Jacobsma 2-28; Kamradt 1-25; Ethan Diehm 1-18; Gellerman 1-10, 1 TD.
Leading Tacklers: Kamradt 8 (6 solos, 1 sack); Ebel 7.5 (6 solos, 1 sack); Lance Berends 6.5 (6 solos, 2 sacks); Gellerman 6.5 (5); Ethan Wiersma 4.5 (4), Jacobsma 3.5 (3); Ethan Baker 2.5 (1).
Fumble recovery: Borden.
Interceptions: Kamradt 1 (11 yd return), Wiersma 1.
Kickoff returns: Borden 1-18, Diehm 1-8.
Kickoffs: Elijah Groeneweg 8-305.