The West Delaware Hawk football team has gotten the 2006 season off to a good start by winning their first two games.

On opening night, September 1st, the Hawks traveled to Dyersville Beckman where they defeated the Blazers 28-12.

The Hawks did most all of their damage against Beckman on the ground as junior runningback Nate Lynch ran for 118 yards on 20 carries. A pair of seniors also had good nights on the ground with Brett Appleton gaining 42 yards on 12 carries and Zach McCool 69 yards on just six carries.

The Hawks took the opening kick off and marched 80 yards in 11 plays to take an early 7-0 lead. Brett Appleton capped off the drive with a 14-yard run.

The Hawks upped the lead to 13-0 when quarterback BJ Hermsen ran in from four yards out with 10:35 left in the second quarter.

Hermsen’s touchdown capped off a 53-yard, 13-play drive.

Beckman’s outstanding sprinter, Kyle Troutman returned the ensuing kick-off 97 yards for the Blazers first score of the game.

The first half ended with the Hawks holding a 13-6 lead.

West Delaware took advantage of a muffed snap of a punt on fourth and five from the Hawk 49 giving West Delaware the ball on the Beckman 45.

Eleven plays later the Hawks found the end zone again when quarterback BJ Hermsen hooked up with Ryan Hauser from 8 yards out.

Mark Messerly’s third successful PAT gave the Hawks a 21-6 lead with 4:04 left in the third quarter.
Beckman scored early in the fourth quarter on a 19 yard pass from Luke Thole to Patrick Mulcahy to cut the Hawk lead to 21-12.

Brett Appleton’s second touchdown of the game, a three-yard run, gave the Hawks their final margin of victory, 28-12.

Game stats
vs. Beckman
First downs: WD 18, DB 8; Rushing: WD 45-259, DB 32-44; Passing: WD 7-18-0-81 yards, DB 8-17-0-94 yards; Total offense: WD 340; DB 138; Punts: WD 3-3-46 yard average, DB 6-30.6 yard average; Fumbles: WD 1-1, DB 2-0; Penalties: WD 7-55, DB 3-28.

Hawk Individual leaders
Passing - BJ Hermsen 7-18-0-81 yards; Rushing - Nate Lynch 20-118, Brett Appleton 12-42, Zach McCool 6-69, BJ Hermsen 2-6, Nate Lahr 5-24; Receiving - Austin Cole 4-33, Zach McCool 2-29, Brett Appleton 1-19; Tackles (total stops) - Zach McCool 7, Lucas Kafer 1, Chris Harbaugh 5, Ryan Hauser 2, Nate Lahr 10, Destry Sperfslage 2, Tyler Manternach 1, Nick Ronnebaum 4, Brett Appleton 2, Corey Hood 6, Ryan Neuhaus 2, Billy Connor 3, Adam Mossner 5, Steve Broghammer 1, Devin Putz 1, Nathan King 2, Paul Broghammer 3, Austin Cole 3, Devon Alber 1.

This past Friday night the Hawks played their 2006 home opener on Brown Field as they hosted the Sabers of DeWitt Central.

Often times it is said that a team will make its biggest improvement from week one to week two and that was certainly the case with West Delaware.

They showed a huge improvement from week ones 28-12 win over Beckman as they dominated the Sabers 49-6.

The task of improving during last week had some added challenges as the Hawks having already lost senior runningback Brad McDonald for the season with a knee injury found out that they were going to be without the heart and soul of their defense, senior Nate Lahr.

Lahr suffered a season ending torn ACL injury late in the Beckman game.

The Hawks answered the challenge and responded with a very good total team effort in their win over DeWitt Central.

The defense held the Sabers to 236 total yards while the offense rode the right arm of junior quarterback BJ Hermsen who completed 19 passes for 307 yards and five touchdowns.

The two teams battled to a 0-0 tie at the end of the first quarter before the Hawks broke the game open with four touchdowns in the second period.

The first three scores for the Hawks were like lightning in a bottle.

With the Hawks taking over the ball on their own 46 following a Saber punt they needed just four plays to find pay dirt.

BJ Hermsen connected with Chris Harbaugh from four yards out with 8:13 left for a 7-0 Hawk lead.

The big play in the four play drive was the first play when Hermsen hit a streaking Ryan Hauser for a 44-yard completion to the Blazer 10 yard line.

On DeWitt’s next possession the Hawks Corey Hood intercepted a Saber pass to give the Hawks a first down at the Saber 20.

Nate Lynch reeled off a nifty 20-yard run that was brought back because of a holding penalty. With the Hawks facing second and goal from the Saber 20 Hermsen tossed his second TD pass of the night, this time to Zach McCool to give the Hawks a 14-0 lead.

The next Saber drive hit a snag when the Hawks Billy Connor recovered a DeWitt fumble on the Saber 30 yard line.

Four plays later the Hawks were in the end zone again. This time Hermsen hooked up with Zach McCool from 25-yards out. Mark Messerly converted his third PAT of the second quarter to give the Hawks a 21-0 lead.

The three scoring drives took just 12 plays covering a total of 114 yards while using just 3:01 off the game clock.

The Hawks were not done. They forced DeWitt to go three and out on their next possession, taking over the ball on their own 49 with 1:36 left in the first half.

A pass from Hermsen to Austin Cole, and a completion to Devon Alber good for 20 yards to the Saber one was followed by a Hermsen quarterback sneak to give the Hawks a 27-0 lead at the half.

The Hawks came out in the second half just where they left off in the first as they forced DeWitt to punt on their first possession of the half.

Taking over the ball on their own 35 the Hawks put together another impressive drive. This time 65-yards in 10 plays ending with an 11-yard TD pass from BJ Hermsen to Devon Alber for a 33-0 Hawk lead.

The Hawks converted the two point extra point try on a pass from Hermsen to a wide open Zach McCool to make the score 35-0 thus starting the continuous clock.

West Delaware would put two more touchdowns on the board before the game ended with the Hawks on top 49-6.

Hermsen tossed his fifth TD pass of the night and third to Zach McCool with 6:38 left in the third quarter.

The Hawks final score came when Chris Harbaugh, who replaced BJ Hermsen, ran in from 26 yards out with 2:21 left in the fourth quarter.

Game stats
vs. DeWitt Central
First downs: WD 15, DC 11; Rushing: WD 23-117, DC 50-214; Passing: WD 19-30-0-307, DC 2-5-1-22; Total offense: WD 424, DC 236; Punts: WD 2-57.5 yard average, DC 5-27.4 yard average; Penalties: WD 3-20, DC 6-41.

Hawk Individual leaders
Passing - BJ Hermsen 19-30-0-307; Receiving - Austin Cole 3-34, Ryan Hauser 4-82, Chris Harbaugh 3-49, Zach McCool 4-92, Devon Alber 4-50, Brett Appleton 1-0; Rushing - Brett Appleton 4-6, Zach McCool 1-11, Nate Lynch 7-33, BJ Hermsen 9-38, Jake Nordaas 1-4, Chris Harbaugh 1-25; Tackles (total stops) - Zach McCool 3, Lucas Kafer 4, Dan Petersen 2, Adam Rave 2, Chris Harbaugh 4, Brian McWilliams 2, Destry Sperfslage 6, Jake Nordaas 4, Nate Lynch 3, Nick Ronnebaum 10, Brett Appleton 2, Corey Hood 9, Bryce Ogea 1, Ryan Neuhaus 1, Justin Klein 1, Billy Connor 8, Adam Mossner 6, Devin Putz 3, Nathan King 7, Austin Cole 3, Devon Alber 3.

The Hawks will travel to Oelwein this Friday to open up district play with the Huskies.

West Delaware head volleyball coach, Brett Mather has got his team off to the fastest start in West Delaware history, 15-0.

The Hawks had a big week last week as they defeated WaMaC Conference opponents Western Dubuque, 3-0 last Tuesday night and Independence 3-0 last Thursday night.

Against Western Dubuque the Hawks won by scores of 25-21, 25-20 and 25-17.

All three games against the Bobcats were fairly close with neither team leading by more than seven points.

Against the Bobcats the Hawks were led offensively by Katie Wessels with 11 kills and Emily Heffernen with 8 kills.

Nicole Neverman and Wessels were the leading blockers for the Hawks with four each.
Katie Murphy dished out 52 assists.

The Hawks showed that they can play defense as well as offense by recording 49 digs in the three games against Western Dubuque.

Katlyn Heiserman led the Hawks with 14 digs while Katie Wessels had 9, Tess Wegner 6 and Kayla Bries 4.

Lindsey McDowell served up three ace serves; Katie Wessels and Katie Murphy each had one.
On Thursday night the Hawks had their home opener as they hosted the Mustangs of Independence.

The Hawks made quick work of the visitors, winning by scores of 25-10, 25-8 and 25-6.

The Hawks were led offensively by Emily Heffernen with 12 kills, Lindsey McDowell with 10 and Katie Wessels with 9.

Emily Havertape recorded three kills while Katie Murphy and Tess Reinig each had two and Nicole Neverman 1.

Katie Murphy dished out 42 assists and Tess Wegner 7 to lead the Hawks.

Emily Heffernen recorded a team high three blocks.

The Hawks served up 13 aces against the Mustangs, four by Lindsey McDowell, three by Katie Wessels, two by Kayla Bries and one each for Kaylin Kelchen, Katlyn Heiserman and Katie Murphy.

The Hawks were led in digs by Katlyn Heiserman and Linsey McDowell, each with six. Kaylin Kelchen had five.