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The
Official Newspaper of Manchester and Delaware County, Iowa
Tuesday,
October 17, 2006 | |
Hawks claim WaMaC title, up record to a perfect 40-0
by Ken Boesenberg
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Just a week removed from claiming the Westside Invitational title the Hawks ran through the WaMaC Conference Tournament with just one chink in the armor; that was a third game loss to Marion 16-25 in the finals on Saturday night.
The Hawks did however take three out of four from the Indians to claim the league championship.
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At left, Senior Lindsey McDowell records one of her five kills against Vinton during Thursday nights WaMaC Conference pool play in Marion. Lindsey had 14 big kills on Saturday during the two bracket play wins over Beckman and Marion. At right, West Delaware’s Nicole Neverman blocks a kill attempt by a Marion player during the Hawks two game sweep of the Indians last Thursday night during WaMaC Conference pool play at Marion. |
That loss was the second game loss to the Indians this season and only the third game dropped against 99 wins.
The Hawks rolled through pool play on Thursday night at the Marion Gym as they defeated Independence 21-11, 21-3; Benton community 21-7, 21-9; Vinton 21-12, 21-9; and Marion 21-17, 21-11.
The Hawks and the Indians both advanced through the pool play to match up against the opposite pool winners (Waterloo Columbus and Dyersville Beckman) in bracket play on Saturday night in Marion.
The Hawks won their side of the bracket with a three game sweep of Dyersville Beckman (25-17, 25-16, 25-13) while Marion dispensed with Waterloo Columbus in five games (23-25, 25-16, 26-24, 19-25 and 15-9).
That set up the rematch of the Thursday night final pool play game between the Hawks and the Indians.
In game one with the Indians the Hawks steadily pulled away before winning by a score of 25-17. In game two West Delaware jumped out to a 5-2 lead and again just kept increasing the margin before winning by 10 points, 25-15.
Game three was one where Marion got the momentum right away and the Hawks never really got into the game as they suffered just their third game loss of the season, 16-25.
It was a different team after the short three minute break between games three and four.
The Hawks broke away from a 3-3 tie to take a solid 13-8 lead. Marion made a run and knotted the score at 14-14. The Hawks outscored the Indians 11-6 to capture the WaMaC Conference championship.
Katie Wessels and Emily Heffernen led the Hawks in kills against Marion with 17 each. Katie Murphy dished out 44 assists in the four game set.
Nicole Nevermann came up big against the Indians by recording four huge blocks.
The Hawks now have a week off before starting the tournament trail to the US Cellular Center for the State Volleyball Tournament.
The Hawks road to the tournament starts next Monday at home against South Tama. The winner of that game will play the winner of the Grinnell vs. Vinton Shellsburg contest on Wednesday, Oct. 25th in Manchester.
The Regional Finals will be held in Oelwein on Monday, October 30th at 7:00 p.m.
The top half of the bracket has Nevada playing Saydel and Webster City taking on Waverly Shell Rock. Those two winners will meet in Waverly on Wednesday, Oct 25th to determine the regional finalist.
The state tournament is at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids on November 8th through the 11th.
WaMaC Pool Play
statistics
Ace serves: Katie Wessels 10, Katie Murphy 2, Katlyn Heiserman 3, Lindsey McDowell 4, Tess Wegner 2, Kaylin Kelchen 3, Kayla Bries 1; Blocks: Katie Wessels 3, Nicole Nevermann 7, Emily Heffernen 2, Tess Reinig 1; Assists: Katie Murphy 76, Emily Heffernen 1, Nicole Nevermann 2, Katie Wessels 2, Katlyn Heiserman 1, Lindsey McDowell 1; Digs: Katie Wessels 19, Katie Murphy 10, Katlyn Heiserman 33, Lindsey McDowell 8, Kaylin Kelchen 5, Nicole Nevermann 2, Tess Wegner 8, Emily Havertape 3, Kayla Bries 2; Kills - Katie Wessels 32, Lindsey McDowell 23, Nicole Nevermann 3, Emily Heffernen 18, Emily Havertape 3, Tess Reinig 2, Katie Murphy 4.
WaMaC Bracket Play
statistics
Ace serves: Katie Wessels 1, Katlyn Heiserman 1, Lindsey McDowell 5, Kayla Bries 2; Blocks: Katie Wessels 6, Nicole Nevermann 4, Emily Heffernen 1, Lindsey McDowell 4, Emily Havertape 1, Katie Murphy 1; Assists: Katie Murphy 71, Emily Heffernen 1, Nicole Nevermann 3, Lindsey McDowell 1; Digs: Katie Wessels 20, Katie Murphy 13, Katlyn Heiserman 36, Lindsey McDowell 6, Kaylin Kelchen 7, Nicole Nevermann 2, Tess Wegner 10, Emily Havertape 6, Kayla Bries 5, Emily Heffernen 8, Tess Reinig 1. |
Hawks suffer first district loss in two years
by Ken Boesenberg |
From a fans perspective the West Delaware, Williamsburg match up last Friday night on Brown Field lived up to it’s billing. Number four vs. number five in Class 3A, two unbeatens, two good offenses against two good defenses.
In the end the Raiders left Manchester with a hard fought 30-29 victory and a solid claim on first place in district action.
The Raiders came into the game having given up just 14 points in four district games while the Hawks were averaging nearly 40 points a game.
The Hawks were forced to punt on their first possession and did a good job defensively as they haulted the Williamsburg drive at the Hawk 48 yard line.
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Billy Connor (#66) and Brett Appleton (#45) team up to bring down Williamsburg quarterback Trent Henderson. |
The Hawks took over the ball following the punt at their own 19. Zach McCool gained six yards to the Hawk 25 before ripping off a huge 66-yard run down to the Raider nine yard line.
On the very next play quarterback BJ Hermsen scored to give the Hawks an early 6-0 lead. Zach McCool, filling in for normal kicker Mark Messerly, converted the PAT for a 7-0 Hawk lead with 6:39 left in the first quarter.
The Hawks covered the ensuing kickoff very well and the defense again stepped up to force the Raiders to punt for the second straight possession.
The snap went over the punters head with the Hawks ending up with possession at the Raider 8 yard line.
A pair of Zach McCool runs got the Hawks to the Raider five, but an incomplete pass and an interception in the endzone ended the Hawk scoring threat.
Williamsburg started from their own 20 after the interception and quickly found themselves up against the wall again when the Hawks Chris Harbaugh picked off a Raider pass at the Williamsburg 39.
The Hawks however could not take advantage of the Raider turnover as they turned the ball over via a fumble at the Williamsburg 25 yardline with 57 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Hawks held and forced the Raiders to punt for the third time.
Following the punt the Hawks suffered their third turnover of the game when Williamsburg picked off their second pass of the game.
It took them just two plays to cut the Hawk lead to 7-6 with 8:05 left in the first half.
The Hawks went three and out on their next possession that would lead to a 32-yard Williamsburg field goal to give the Raiders a 9-7 lead with 5:51 remaining in the first half.
The Hawks would take the kickoff and march 75-yards in six plays to retake the lead, 15-9, on a 3 yard run by Nate Lynch.
Lynch’s TD run was set up by a 46-yard jaunt by senior fullback Brett Appleton.
BJ Hermsen hooked up with Zach McCool to give the Hawks the two point conversion and a six point lead.
That’s how the first half would end, West Delaware 15, Williamsburg 9.
The Raiders took the second half kickoff and waisted little time in reclaiming the lead when Trent Henderson raced 64-yards on their third play from scrimmage.
The successful PAT gave the Raiders a 16-15 lead.
The teams traded punts on their next possessions. West Delaware got the better of the field position when Zach McCool returned the punt 43 yards to the Raider 15 yard line.
Three plays later BJ Hermsen connected with Devon Alber on a 14-yard scoring strike to give the hawks a 21-16 lead. Hermsen’s pass to Chris Harbaugh for the two point conversion upped the Hawks lead to seven points, 23-16.
Again Williamsburg answered the Hawk score with one of their own to tie the game at 23-23.
This time they drove 70 yards in 10 plays, capped off by a 12-yard Trent Henderson touchdown run with 1:36 left in the third quarter.
Following a West Delaware punt near the end of the third quarter the Raiders mounted what would turn out to be the winning touchdown drive of the game.
They took the ball on their own 35 and hit pay dirt eight plays later to take a 30-23 lead with 9:36 left in the game.
Both teams stopped the others offense on consecutive possessions with the Hawks taking over the ball on their own 46 with just under five minutes left in the game.
Behind the blocking of the offensive line and the running of junior Nate Lynch the Hawks moved down to the Raider 20 yard line.
A four yard run by Hermsen and an offsides penalty on Williamsburg gave the Hawks a first and goal at the Raider six.
Nate Lynch carried two times, the second time into the endzone for a Hawk score to pull the Hawks to within a point at 30-29.
The try for the two point conversion came up short and Williamsburg would run out the clock following the Hawk kick off to leave Brown Field in sole possession of first place in the district race.
Williamsburg ran 69 offensive plays to the Hawks 54 and won the turnover game 3-1.
West Delaware’s 29 points against the Raider defense was more than double what they had allowed during the first four games of district play.
The Hawks rolled up 240 rushing yards with a very balanced rushing attack led by Zach McCool with 88 yards, Brett Appleton with 64 and Nate Lynch with 55.
Sixty-six of McCool’s yards came on one run while 43 of Appleton’s 64 yards also came on one play.
The Hawks will look to get back on the winning track this Friday night on Brown Field as they host the Trojans of South Tama for Senior Night.
The Trojans are 1-4 in district play and 1-6 overall.
Game stats
vs. Williamsburg
First downs - WD 12, Wbrg 15; rushing - WD 35-240, Wbrg 36-119; passing - WD 8-19-2-59 yards, Wbrg 16-33-1-232 yards; total yardage - WD 299, Wbrg 351; punts - WD 5-37.2 yard average, Wbrg 4-35.5 yard average; fumbles - WD 1-1, Wbrg 1-0; penalties - WD 5-50, Wbrg 8-46.
Individual leaders
Passing - BJ Hermsen 8-19-2-59 yards; receiving - Austin Cole 1-16, Zach McCool 3-13, Ryan Hauser 2-18, Devon Alber 1-14, Chris Harbaugh 1-minus 2; rushing - Nate Lynch 11-55, Zach McCool 12-88, BJ Hermsen 5-33, Brett Appleton 7-64; tackles (total stops) - Zach McCool 9, Lucas Kafer 1, Adam Rave 1, Chris Harbaugh 7, Brian McWilliams 6, Nick Ronnebaum 5, Brett Appleton 6, Corey Hood 4, Billy Connor 7, Nathan King 7, Paul Broghammer 7, Austin Cole 4, Devon Alber 2. |
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E. Delaware - P.O. Box 245 - Manchester, Iowa 52057
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Copyright
Manchester Press 2005-2006
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