Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Eagles' running game, special teams outshine Hawk passing success
Blake Meendering outruns a West Hancock defender to score H-M-S's final touchdown in Friday's playoff game.
Isaac Schierholz takes on a defender during one of his seven pass receptions in the playoff loss to West Hancock.
Jack Mastbergen follows the flight of one of his 38 pass attempts. The senior passed for a school record 301 yards in the playoff loss.
Lawton Schiphoff makes initial contact with a West Hancock ball carrier during the playoff game at Britt.
Contrasting styles of football were on full display during the first round of the Class A playoffs on Oct. 25 at Britt. Relying on its rushing attack and big plays by its special teams, defending champion West Hancock proved too much for Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn's passing offense to overcome in a 65-27 win.
The difference in styles was evident in how the teams scored. The Eagles' first drive was their longest (seven plays) and ended with Brady Bixel scoring on a one-yard run. As the opening half progressed, the Eagles scored on runs of 72 and 70 yards by Bixel and a 66-yard run by Gustavo Gomez.
West Hancock also reached the end zone twice on a pair of 80-plus yard kickoff returns by Teague Smith.
"Obviously, special teams were a big issue and then they found an exploit on defense," Hawk coach Jeremiah Delzer observed. "It was hard to make adjustments because we had a whole bunch of guys out and we couldn't really get guys to where we needed them to be, so we were kind of limited and they found it and exploited it."
The Hawks' greatest offensive success came through the air. H-M-S got on the scoreboard late in the first quarter on a 27-yard pass from Jack Mastbergen to Slayton McCarter. Mattis Octmann kicked the PAT. Mastbergen later connected with Jackson Vogt for an eight-yard scoring play. James Gellerman's conversion run made the score 26-15 with 8:23 remaining in the half.
The Hawks would get no closer and they trailed 42-15 at the half.
West Hancock began the second-half scoring with a 44-yard run by Bixel. H-M-S answered with a 73-yard reception by McCarter, and the Eagles immediately countered with Bixel's kickoff return. Their last score came on a 68-yard run by Gomez.
Blake Meendering's six-yard run late in the game made the final score 65-27.
"Twenty-seven points is kind of where we wanted to be," Delzer noted. "We told the players, 'Let's keep it low scoring and see what happens in the end.' Obviously, that didn't happen."
Mastbergen had a big night for H-M-S. He completed 23-of-38 passes for 301 yards (a school record) and three scores. He also rushed 21 times for 118 yards.
McCarter caught seven passes for 137 yards, tying an H-M-S record for most receiving yards in a playoff game. Others with receptions were Isaac Schierholz, 7-54; Vogt, 6-41; Gellerman, 4-33; and Jayden Leth, 2-36.
West Hancock rushed 29 times for 485 yards and had 252 return yards. One of their two pass attempts was intercepted in the end zone by Vogt.
Defensive leaders were Meendering with four tackles; Mastbergen and Schierholz with three; and Alex Billings with two.
"We're really proud of everybody. We were so banged up," Delzer said. "[West Hancock] is a really well-coached and talented team who was really physical and we didn't really match that. That's kind of the way it goes when we were limited."
H-M-S finishes the 2024 season with a record of 3-6 overall. A season recap will be featured in an upcoming issue.
