West Delaware Hawk fans hardly had time to catch their breath between celebrations last week.

Coach Corey Coates and his girls basketball team got the week started with a huge 39-32 win over the Sabers of Central DeWitt in DeWitt last Tuesday night. The win gave the Hawks the WaMaC Conference East Division title outright, only the third WaMaC Conference title for a West Delaware girls basketball team in school history.

The win boosted the Hawks East Division record to 8-2, 11-9 overall.

The Hawks canned 10 straight free throws during the games final two minutes to hold off the Sabers.

Samantha Hahn led the charge by going six for six from the line during those final two minutes.

After the Hawks fell behind 13-6 at the end of the first quarter they outscored the Sabers 8-3 during the second eight minutes to trail by just two points at the half, 16-14.

The Hawks held DeWitt to just five third quarter points while scoring nine to take a 23-21 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Three Hawks scored in double figures, Samantha Hahn, Jackie Mullis and Sam Conrad, all with 10 points.

Kadie Hutton led the Hawks in rebounding with 7 as West Delaware outrebounded the Sabers 26-19.

Game stats
vs. DeWitt Central
Field goals: WD 13-34-38.2%, DC 11-30-36.7%; free throws: WD 13-18-72%, DC 10-18-56%; assists: WD 12 (M. Wessels 3, Hahn 1, Mullis 1, Heiserman 1, Conrad 1, A. Hood 2, Hutton 2); rebounds: WD 26 (Heiar 1, M. Wessels 1, Hahn 4, Mullis 4, Conrad 5, J. Hood 1, A. Hood 1, Hutton 7, Lechtenberg 2), DC 19; blocked shots: WD 2 (Conrad 2); steals: WD 11 (Heiar 2, Hahn 1, Mullis 2, Heiserman 2, A. Hood 2, Hutton 2); turnovers: WD 20, DC 20; Hawk scoring - Samantha Hahn 10, Jackie Mullis 10, Sam Conrad 10, Ashley Hood 2, Kadie Hutton 5, Angie Lechtenberg 2.

On Friday night the Hawks played their final home contest of the season, a non-conference affair with fourth ranked in Class 2A Union.

The Knights proved to be a bit too quick for the Hawks as they defeated West Delaware 60-49.

Union opened up a nine point lead, 21-12 at the end of the first quarter and made that stand up for the 11 point victory.

The Hawks trailed by 17 points at the half and by 20 late in the third quarter. They did, however, make a huge charge at the highly rated Knights to pull to within nine points at 55-46 with just 48 seconds left.

Ashley Hood led the Hawks in scoring with 11 points on three for five shooting from three point range.

Katie Wessels grabbed a team high 12 rebounds after she returned to the line up after sitting out with a leg injury.

Game stats
vs. Union
Field goals: WD 16-55-29.1%, U 20-50-40%; free throws: WD 11-19-58%, U 17-26-65%; assists: WD 11 (Heiar 3, M. Wessels 3, Mullis 1, Heiserman 1, J. Hood 1, A. Hood 1, Hutton 1); rebounds: WD 32 (Heiar 2, M. Wessels 1, Hahn 4, Mullis 5, K. Wessels 12, J. Hood 1, Hutton 4, Lechtenberg 5), U 34; blocked shots: WD 3 (Mullis 2, K. Wessels 1); steals: WD 4 (J. Hood 2, A. Hood 2); turnovers: WD 11, U 9; Hawk scoring - Kathryn Heiar 4, Megan Wessels 6, Samantha Hahn 2, Jackie Mullis 7, Katie Wessels 9, Jenny Hood 3, Ashley Hood 11, Kadie Hutton 5, Angie Lechtenberg 2.

The Hawks will begin Class 3A tournament action this Thursday night when they travel to Marion for a first round contest with the Indians.

The winner of that game will face the winner of the Cedar Rapids Xavier vs. Anamosa contest on Saturday night at Cedar Rapids Xavier.

The other two games in the lower half of the Hawks bracket are Maquoketa vs. Dubuque Wahlert and Western Dubuque vs. Central DeWitt.

The West Delaware boys basketball team 16 points and five assists from senior guard Eric Crawford as they topped the DeWitt Central Sabers 51-41 last Tuesday night in Manchester.

The Hawks built an early 11-4 first quarter lead when senior Brett Manternach scored on three straight possessions for the Hawks.

Central rallied back with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 11-11 with eight seconds left in the first quarter.

Eric Crawford then nailed his second three-point basket of the opening quarter as time expired to give the Hawks a 14-11 lead at the end of the period.

The Hawks upped their lead to eight points, 20-12 on a BJ Hermsen jumper with 6:21 left in the second quarter. Hermsen’s basket with 42 seconds left before half time gave the Hawks a seven point lead, 25-18 at intermission.

Hermsen tossed in 13 points and Manternach 12 to give the Hawks three double figures scorers.
The Hawks upped their lead to 10 points on four separate occasions during the third quarter the last time at 37-27 on a BJ Hermsen field goal.

West Delaware held a nine point lead, 37-29 heading into the fourth quarter.

DeWitt cut the Hawk lead to a slim three points with 6:10 left in the game. Following a short jumper by the Hawks Austin Cole to give the Hawks a 39-34 lead the Hawks held the Sabers at bay for the rest of the contest.

Eric Crawford’s third three-point basket of the game came with the Hawks holding a five point lead, 46-41 with 2:07 remaining.

The big three-pointer gave the Hawks an eight point lead with 1:52 left. Crawford finished up the Hawk scoring with a pair of free throws at the 1:28 mark to make the final score 51-41 as neither team would score during the final minute and a half.

Game stats
vs. DeWitt Central
Field goals: WD 22-45-48.9%; free throws: WD 3-5-60%; assists: WD 17 (Brown 3, Hermsen 1, E. Crawford 5, Cole 4, C. Crawford 3, Manternach 1); steals: WD 8 (Hermsen 2, E. Crawford 2, Cole 1, C. Crawford 1, Manternach 2); blocked shots: WD 4 (Hermsen 2, Manternach 2); rebounds: WD 21 (Brown 2, Hermsen 7, E. Crawford 2, Cole 4, C, Crawford 1, Manternach 5); turnovers: WD 15; Hawk scoring - BJ Hermsen 13, Eric Crawford 16, Austin Cole 8, Chris Crawford 2, Brett Manternach 12.

On Friday night the Hawks traveled to Waterloo to square off with the Waterloo Columbus Sailors.

It was a game of spurts with the Sailors leading 21-9 at the end of the first quarter. West Delaware owned the second quarter, 13-3 and went on to defeat the Sailors 56-55.

Sophomore BJ Hermsen had a big night for the Hawks against the Sailors with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

Senior Brett Manternach was the only other Hawk to score in double figures, he had 10 points to go along with eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

The only real negative statistic for the Hawks in the huge win was a 3 for 14 effort from the free throw line which made the game closer than it needed to be.

The win upped the Hawks record to 11-8 on the season where they have earned a number two seed in their district of the Class 3A upcoming basketball tournament.

West Delaware used a 19-15 third quarter advantage to turn a two-point Sailor halftime lead into a two point Hawk advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

Game stats
vs. Waterloo Columbus
Field goals: WD 25-48-52.1%; free throws: Wd 2-14-21.4%; assists: WD 22 (Brown 1, E. Crawford 4, Hermsen 5, Keppler 1, C. Crawford 9, Manternach 2); steals: WD 5 (Hermsen 2, E. Crawford 2, Cole 1); blocked shots: WD 4 (Hermsen 1, Manternach 3); rebounds: WD 32 (Boom 4, Brown 3, Hermsen 10, E. Crawford 1, Cole 2, Keppler 1, C. Crawford 3, Manternach 8); turnovers: WD 14; Hawk scoring - Alex Boom 6, BJ Hermsen 24, Eric Crawford 10, Austin Cole 4, Phil Keppler 2, Brett Manternach 10.

The Hawks have two regular season games left. Here against Marion this Thursday night. It was originally scheduled for Tuesday but the West Delaware wrestling team will be hosting DeWitt Central in a Regional State Dual Meet qualifier on Tuesday night.

The Hawks will end the regular season with a road game at Benton Community on this Friday night.

Six teams entered the Sectional Tournament, all looking to advance as a team to Class 2A Regional Dual Meet competition this week and as well to advance wrestlers on to District Tournament action this Saturday.

When all was said and done the West Delaware Hawks showed that they are a team on the move as they scored 239 team points to outdistance runner-up Independence by nine points for the team sectional title.

The meet was as close as everyone thought that it would be right from the first match to the last match.

The Hawks placed all 13 of their wrestlers in the top three positions and advanced 10 on to the District Tournament in Fayette this coming Saturday.

Advancing for the Hawks were Nathan Vaske at 103 as the runner-up; Zach McCool at 130 as the champion; Adam Rave at 135 as the runner-up; Chris Harbaugh at 140 as the champion; Dustin Jaeger at 152 as the champion; Nate Lahr at 160 as the champion; Jamie Vaske at 171 as the runner-up; Tony Marbach at 189 as the runner-up; Steve Broghammer at 215 as the runner-up and Paul Broghammer as the champion.

The day was full of exciting matches.

At 112-pounds the Hawks Shawn Flanagan lost a tough wrestleback match 3-0 to finish third.

At 125 the Hawks Nick Ketchum won two of his three matches on the day to finish third while picking up some huge team points.

At 145 Tyler Manternach placed third with a big win over Marty Kuhlmann of Denver/Tripoli to also pick up some big team points.

The Hawks Chris Harbaugh at 140 barely broke a sweat in picking up two pins in less than 30 seconds total to claim a sectional title.

Senior Jamie Vaske at 171 pounds won two of his three matches. His second win was over the second seed and propelled him into the finals.

At 189 the Hawks Tony Marbach rebounded from a hard fought 7-5 loss to Nick O’Loughlin of Independence in the finals to defeat Ryan Heitzman of Dyersville Beckman in a wrestleback match.

Marbach had to scramble out of considerable early first period trouble. He fell behind 5-0 and was nearly pinned before righting the ship and roaring back for decision victory and a trip to districts.

In one of the bigger matches of the day the Hawks Paul Broghammer, who had lost his previous two matches to the Mustangs Derek Albert, brought the West Delaware fans to their feet with a 5-2 win in the 275-pound finals match.

Paul wrestled what may have been his best match of the year in what was certainly his biggest match of the year.

His win forced the Mustangs to pin their way through their four wrestleback matches if they were going to have a chance to catch the Hawks in the team race.

That question was quickly answered when at 130 pounds Marco Roche of Waterloo Columbus pinned second seeded Cody Thompson of Independence and the Hawks Adam Rave pinned Josh Dougherty of Oelwein at 135 pounds. At that point the title belonged to the Hawks.

Marbach's wrestleback win at 189 gave the Hawks 10 district qualifiers.