Staying the course

Disappointed with how the first half ended, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn responded in a big way in its Class A District 1 football matchup with Alta-Aurelia. The Hawks scored three second-half touchdowns and shut out the Warriors to earn a 36-14 win Sept. 6 in Hartley.

The first half began with Alta-Aurelia driving 60 yards to take the lead. The Hawks responded with a long drive that culminated with a two-yard touchdown run by James Gellerman. Answering the Warriors' opening score was important for H-M-S.

"We just had to stay the course," Hawk coach Jeremiah Delzer said. "We responded really well. It's not about what happens, it's about how you respond to what happens. We came out and did what we needed to do."

Gellerman also reached the end zone in the second quarter on a three-yard run. The go-head score was set up by Jack Mastbergen's fumble recovery. Alta-Aurelia later drove into Hawk territory but came up short on fourth down. H-M-S fumbled a few plays later, and the Warriors capitalized on a 30-yard pass in the final minute, forcing a 14-14 tie.

"We have this bug right now where we just don't do our job [on defense] for one possession," Delzer noted. "We're going to get it hammered out and we're going to get it figured out. We've just got to settle down and do our thing."

The teams exchanged turnovers early in the second half, with Mastbergen recovering another fumble. The Hawks then took over the game, scoring on Mastbergen's 11-yard run. Following a fumble recovery by Isaac Schierholz, Gellerman closed out the third quarter with a 40-yard scoring run.

Gellerman intercepted a pass early in the fourth quarter to end a Warrior threat, and H-M-S later stopped them on fourth down in their territory. Mastbergen capped the Hawks' final drive with a 17-yard pass to Jackson Vogt, sealing the 36-14 win.

"We're still not there yet but we're getting there," Delzer noted. "We'll take this, celebrate it, but go find out what we need to work on and be better for next week."

H-M-S rushed for 290 yards. Gellerman followed up his 109-yard effort in the opening game with 148 yards on 26 carries against Alta-Aurelia. Mastbergen gained 133 yards to record his first 100-yard rushing game.

The Hawk quarterback also completed 10-of-18 passes for 160 yards. Vogt had four receptions for 64 yards, Slayton McCarter caught three passes for 55 yards and Schierholz caught three for 41.

H-M-S's defense limited Alta-Aurelia to 204 yards. Leading tacklers were Gellerman and Blake Meendering with six, David Wetrich with five, and Ricky Smith and Mastbergen with four. Adding three tackles were Alex Billings, Hunter Daggett, McCarter, Schierholz and Vogt.

The win was the first for Delzer as a head coach. While happy with the result, he is more focused on the future.

"It feels awesome, but we're not even close to where I hope we can be this year," he said. "This just feels like the smallest step to what we can accomplish this year."

• Next Up: at MMCRU

H-M-S heads to Marcus on Friday to take on MMCRU. The Royals are winless, but Delzer respects what they bring to the field.

"They're really well-coached. They're a really solid team," he said. "They're going to show a lot of things that we like to show on offense and on defense, so I think it's going to be a clash of two teams that are similar."

Delzer feels the Hawks must start well in order to have a chance for success.

"We've got to come and swing with good punches because if we get down early I'm not sure we're going to be able to keep up," he said.