Run Hawks, run

It's difficult to decide which was more impressive Friday night: Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn's offense which gained 655 yards and averaged 14 yards per play, or its defense which limited MMCRU to barely over 100.

Either way you look at it, the Hawks were dominant in their 62-0 district win at Marcus.

MMCRU ran two more plays (48-46) and had nearly five more minutes in time of possession but that didn't stop the Hawks, who rushed for 564 yards on 41 carries.

"We knew we could run the ball against them," Hawk coach Tyler Horkey said. "We were depleted a little bit offensive line-wise, but we had a couple of plays we knew we could be successful at."

Connor Dodd gained 215 yards on just eight carries. He scored the Hawks' first touchdowns on runs of 49 and 45 yards to put H-M-S in front, 14-0, and added a 43-yarder to the end zone in the third quarter.

Travis Kamradt rushed for 141 yards, including a 13-yard run for another first quarter score. Ryan Borden gained 89 yards on just two attempts, one of which went 59 yards for the final touchdown. Kooper Ebel added 65 yards including an eight-yard scoring run, and Dawson Schiphoff rushed for 46 yards and scored on runs of 17 yards in the second quarter and 15 in the fourth.

"We had a lot of guys gain a lot of yards," Horkey acknowledged.

H-M-S's passing game was effective. Ebel completed 3-of-5 passes for 91 yards, including a 41-yarder to Schiphoff that made the halftime score 34-0.

DJ Doyle caught a pass for 33 yards and Schiphoff had another reception for 17.

"[Kooper] hit the routes he was supposed to hit," Horkey said.

The defense was equally up to the task, holding the Royals to 34 rushing yards and 74 through the air.

"Defensively we overpowered them," Horkey said. "We played very well defensively."

Tackle leaders (all solos) were Lance Berends, five (three for losses); Schiphoff, five (two for losses); Dodd and Ebel, four; Mason Brinkman and Jesse Garcia, three (one each for loss); Noah Adams, Gabe Bronstad, Doyle, Samuel Heyn, Kamradt, Adam Schierholz and Trenton Vollink, two each.

Adams and Doyle each intercepted a pass. H-M-S lost three fumbles and Schiphoff recovered one by the Royals.

• Next up: vs. Akron-Westfield

H-M-S (3-2, 2-1) returns home to face Akron-Westfield (1-4, 0-3) on Friday. The Westerners were shut out last week by South O'Brien, 36-0.

Horkey said Akron-Westfield features a passing offense, and the statistics bear that out. The Westerners' have attempted 164 passes while only rushing 101 times, and have gained 849 yards through the air compared to 446 on the ground.

The Hawks will prepare offensively and defensively for what they expect A-W to do as they seek their third straight victory.

• Scores for Sept. 25

H-M-S 62, MMCRU 0

Gehlen Catholic 20, Belmond-Klemme 19 (non-district)

South O'Brien 36, Akron-Westfield 0

• Games for Oct. 2

Akron-Westfield at H-M-S

Gehlen Catholic at MMCRU

South O'Brien at Lawton-Bronson