The South Hamilton Hawks entered this football season, fresh off their best season in school history, as the Hawks ran their record to 9-0, before falling to South Central Calhoun in the playoffs, by a score of 20-8.
South Hamilton would lose their entire starting backfield and a large chunk of their offensive line. That didn’t bother the Hawks in an 48-20 opening win over Roland-Story, however, back-to-back losses to rivals South Hardin and West Marshall sat the Hawks at 1-2, before a win against Belmond-Klemme had them back at 2-2. Things took a sour turn in the next two weeks, as South Hamilton would lose to Woodward-Granger on the last play of the game, followed with a loss to South Central Calhoun that was ultimately decided by a late offensive pass interference call. The Hawks would rebound, with sound wins over Manson-Northwest Webster and Eagle Grove to finish the regular season 4-4, before a hard-fought loss to ACGC in the playoffs ended their season at 4-5.
Landon Skartvedt was the leading rusher in the Hawks wishbone attack, racking up 1,087 yards and 9 touchdowns. Fullback Austin Busch would miss the first 3 games of the season, but still managed 702 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns. Tycin Barkema would carry for 223 yards and a touchdown on the season, before missing the final 3 games due to injury. Sophomore quarterback Tjerdan Johnson showed tremendous growth throughout the first season as the Hawks signal caller.