It was the Hawks' night

Big plays. Long drives. A goal line stand. Leads that appeared to be safe. Comebacks that fell short.

All of that illustrates the kind of game Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn and Gehlen Catholic played Sept. 2 at LeMars.

The Hawks' physical style of football prevailed, but not without a fight. They led by as many as 23 points but needed a late score to hold off Gehlen Catholic for the 50-35 win.

"I felt like this was our kids' night," said Hawk coach Jay Eilers. "I was just so proud that they came out and got the win."

The Hawks reached the end zone three straight possessions to open the game. Travis Kamradt scored on the second play from scrimmage on a 75-yard run, and Kooper Ebel scored on runs of 13 and 70 yards.

Connor Kraft scored the Jays' first touchdown but was stopped short at the Hawk 2 the next time they had the ball. Kraft later connected with Landen Reuter for a 34-yard scoring pass to tighten the score to 23-15.

Late in the first half, Ethan Diehm returned a kickoff to the Jays' 40. H-M-S drove into field goal range, but Ebel's 22-yard attempt was no good.

"I was pleased how we closed the first half," Eilers noted. "I know we didn't get points on the board, but I felt like our kids didn't panic. We were doing positive things."

Gehlen Catholic struggled to sustain drives in the second half, as the Hawk defense limited them to one first down for nearly 18 minutes.

"I thought we clarified some things [defensively] in the locker room at half time, just to really make sure kids understood what we were asking them to do," Eilers noted.

On the other side of the ball, Ebel scored on a 32-yard run and Kamradt scored twice on 1-yard runs. Gehlen Catholic returned a kickoff for a touchdown and capitalized on a Hawk fumble – their only turnover of the game – to score again, but H-M-S answered with Kamradt's 51-yard run with 3:21 to play.

Kamradt rushed for 315 yards on 21 carries, while Ebel ran the ball 26 times for 238 yards. Overall, H-M-S rushed 48 times for 557 yards, averaging 11.6 yards per attempt.

"Our offensive line was just tremendous," Eilers noted. "It's not just our O-line; it's everybody we ask to block."

The Jays would not quit, scoring on a 26-yard scoring pass with 1:04 left in the game, but H-M-S would prevail in their opening win in Class A District 1.

Kamradt and Ebel were also major contributors on defense, recording 9.5 tackles, including eight solos. Trenton Vollink contributed eight tackles, Diehm had five, Lance Berends had 4.5 tackles and Ethan Wiersma added four.

Each team was penalized once. The Hawks were flagged for having an ineligible player downfield, which Eilers said showed the hustle and effort of the offensive line.

• Next Up: South O'Brien

After two road games, the Hawks play at home for the first time as they host South O'Brien (1-1) on Friday. Eilers expects both teams to play tough, physical football.

"I don't think we're going to see anything that we saw last week," he observed. "I think [South O'Brien] is going to be physical. I think they're going to be hard-nosed kids. I think that's going to be a game that our kids enjoy. Our kids enjoy physical football."