The Hawks scored on their first three possessions and on six of their eight possessions in the first half to take a 42-7 lead at intermission.

South Tama’s first possession of the game lasted just three plays as sophomore Devon Alber picked off his fifth pass of the season to give the Hawks the ball at the Trojan 40.

A pair of passes from BJ Hermsen to Zach McCool and Ryan Hauser got the Hawks down to the South Tama six where Hermsen scored on a quarterback keeper for a 7-0 Hawk lead.

Following consecutive sacks of the Trojan quarterback by Zach McCool and Brett Appleton South Tama was forced to punt from their own 34.

The Hawks came out in their five wide receiver set and with quarterback BJ Hermsen completing four of six passes marched 55 yards in six plays to take a 14-0 lead.

The final play of the drive was an 18-yard scoring strike to McCool with 6:30 left in the first quarter.
The Hawks defense again held the Trojans and forced them to punt.

Starting at their own 19 Hermsen connected with Brian McWilliams for 21 yards to the Hawk 40. On the next play Hermsen rolled to his right and picked up 20 yards before being run out of bounds at the Trojan 40. A pass interference call against South Tama moved the ball to the Trojan 25.

Facing fourth and one from the Trojan 16, junior Nate Lynch picked up six yards to the nine for a first and goal.

Two plays later, Jake Nordaas capped off the drive with a one yard run to give the Hawks a 21-0 lead with just eight seconds left in the first quarter.

The teams traded turnovers to start the second period. Zach McCool picked off a South Tama pass deep in Hawk territory, however, two plays later the Hawks turned the ball back over to the Trojans at the Hawk 14.

South Tama needed just three plays to put their first points on the board, cutting the Hawk lead to 21-7 with 8:14 left in the first half.

The Hawks came right back behind the running of junior Nate Lynch.

With the Hawks starting from their own 35, Lynch would rack up 50 of his game high 105 rushing yards on this drive. He capped off the drive with a one yard run with 5:33 left in the half to give the Hawks a 28-7 lead.

Following the Hawk kick off South Tama started from their own 27. Their drive came to an end on their second play from scrimmage when Chris Harbaugh picked off a pass and raced 40-yards to the Trojan 10 yard line.

On the very next play BJ Hermsen hooked up with Ryan Hauser for the Hawks fifth touchdown of the first half to up the Hawk lead to 28 points, 35-7 with 4:41 left in the first half.

After the defense held the Trojans and forced them to punt the Hawks turned the ball over on an interception. On the very next play, nose tackle, Nathan King literally took the ball away form the South Tama running back to give the Hawks the ball back at the Trojan 37.

Facing third and eight from the Trojan 35, Hermsen hooked up with senior Austin Cole on a 21 yard pass play down to the South Tama 14.

Senior Brett Appleton scored on a 14-yard run on the next play to give the Hawks a huge 42-7 half time lead.

West Delaware got the ball to start the second half and wasted little time in scoring their seventh touchdown of the game.

This time it was all Zach McCool, not via the pass but on the ground as he rushed for 74 yards on four carries, the last one covering 40 yards to make the score 49-7.

McCool was the Hawks second leading rusher for the game with 86 yards on just six carries.

The Hawks Chris Harbaugh picked off his second pass of the game, and his fifth of the season to set the Hawks up for their final score of the game.

With Harbaugh taking over at quarterback for BJ Hermsen the Hawks second team line opened some very nice holes for running back Nate Lynch.

When Lynch busted over the goal line from one yard out with 47 seconds left in the third quarter the Hawks upped their lead to 56-7.

South Tama would score their final points of the game midway through the fourth quarter to make the final score 56-13 in favor of the Hawks.

The Hawk defense did a very good job on the night as they held the Trojans to just 25 rushing yards on 29 carries. They also forced five turnovers, four interceptions and a fumble.

The win kept the Hawks in the hunt for their second straight Class 3A play-off berth as they raised their record to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in district play.

Williamsburg wrapped up the district title with a 28-7 win over Oelwein last Friday night. The Raiders own the head-to-head edge over both Grinnell and West Delaware.

The Hawks will make the long road trip to Grinnell this Friday night in a game that will decide the Class 3A, District 4 runner-up and state play-off representative.

The Tigers defeated Independence 42-7 last Friday night and have run off four straight wins since losing to Williamsburg in week four, 24-0.

Game stats
vs. South Tama
First downs - WD 18, ST 10; rushing - WD 37-273, ST 29-25; passing - WD 10-19-1-149, ST 10-21-4-198; total yards - WD 422, ST 223; punts - WD 0-0, ST 4-28.8 yard average; fumbles - WD 1-1, ST 2-1; penalties - WD 0-0, 5-35.

Individual leaders
Passing - BJ Hermsen 10-19-1-149; receiving - Zach McCool 4-60, Ryan Hauser 3-40, Brian McWilliams 1-20, Austin Cole 2-29; rushing - BJ Hermsen 2026, Nate Lynch 15-105, Jake Nordaas 2-0, Brett Appleton 4-23, Zach McCool 6-86, Chris Harbaugh 2-9, Tyler Manternach 3-19, Nate Neuhaus 1-4, Ben Lechtenberg 2-1; tackles (total stops) - Zach McCool 7, Lucas Kafer 2, Adam Rave 3, Chris Harbaugh 2, Mark Messerly 1, Ryan Hauser 2, Destry Sperfslage 7, Jake Nordaas 10, Nate Lynch 1, Nick Ronnebaum 5, Brett Appleton 2, Corey Hood 3, Wes Marbach 1, Bryce Ogea 4, Billy Connor 2, Alex Ryan 1, Adam Mossner 2, Devin Putz 1, Nathan King 5, Paul Broghammer 2, Austin Cole 3, Devon Alber 1.