Playing with a lot of joy

A philosophy in sports says that competing is not fun unless you win. But Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn's football proved that having fun while competing can lead to great results. Hosting Sibley-Ocheyedan on Oct. 6, the Hawks played like a team that was having fun and the reward was a 28-21 win.

Hawk coach Jay Eilers said the players established the attitude that led to H-M-S's first win of the 2023 season.

"Our kids deserve a lot of this joy. They are awesome. They made great football plays and showed so much grit," he said. "Our players brought a joy to Thursday's practice and you could see what was coming. We asked our team to be a bunch of kids and have fun."

Eilers credited the upperclassmen for turning that energy into action, and it showed right away. With runs by James Gellerman and Jack Mastbergen, along with a 17-yard reception by Slayton McCarter, H-M-S reached the end zone first. Gellerman ran seven yards for the score and Mastbergen added the two-point conversion.

McCarter intercepted a pass deep in Hawk territory. H-M-S eventually had to punt and the Generals blocked the ball out of the end zone to make the score 8-2.

Gellerman intercepted another pass near the end of the first quarter, but the Hawks could not take advantage. Late in the half, a short punt set up S-O at the Hawk 35. They scored on a pass to Tanner Gries to go ahead 9-8.

Blake Meendering returned an interception to the S-O 16 early in the second half. Gellerman scored six plays later to put H-M-S in front, 14-9. The Generals immediately answered with an 83-yard run by Dominic Marco to make the score 15-14.

Early in the fourth quarter, Mastbergen scored on a six-yard run. The conversion gave H-M-S a 22-15 lead. Ethan Wiersma recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, setting up Gellerman's final scoring run which increased the margin to 28-15.

S-O's final score came on a pass with 3:11 left in the game. H-M-S recovered the onside kick and Gellerman ran six straight times – the last of his 42 rushing attempts – to run out the clock.

"Even with a short amount of time in the fourth quarter, how critical it was to get first downs. I thought we had some great, great decision-making on the field," Eilers said. "There was just great awareness. Our kids played so hard, and this is about them."

Gellerman rushed for 233 yards and scored three touchdowns.

"I compliment our kids up front," Eilers noted. "If you were at that football game, you saw a young man running with pure determination. James was not going to take no for an answer. I thought he ran so hard that any second he was going to break one and go."

Mastbergen added 22 rushing yards, and completed a 14-yard pass to Wiersma and a six-yarder to Zach Pearson.

Defensively, H-M-S allowed 151 yards on the ground and 94 through the air. Leading tacklers were Gellerman 6.5, Wiersma 4.5, Jr Araiza, Meendering and Pearson 3.5, Bradley Van Beek 2.5, and Evan Eilers and Ethan Huberg 2.0.

• Next up: vs. Gehlen Catholic

Gehlen Catholic is the Hawks' opponent for the last game of the 2023 season. Unlike most of the other teams H-M-S has played, the Jays feature a run-oriented offense. Two of their running backs have combined for over 1,600 yards.

"They're committed to running the football. Their quarterback's doing a great job of running counter and some things like that," Eilers noted.

The battle in the trenches should be a good one.

"I think their offensive line's going to come off the ball," Eilers said. "I think we match up well with Gehlen Catholic. Our D-line can stop the run."