The South Hamilton Hawks football team opened their 2023 season with a hard-fought 20-14 win over their rivals in South Hardin. The Hawks got off to a slow start, but two sustained drives in the 2nd half put the Tigers away for good in the game. The Hawks turn their attention to West Marshall, a program whom they have not defeated since a 40-0 shutout over the Trojans in 2014.
West Marshall enters after being shutout by Nevada in week 1 by a score of 31-0. New starting quarterback Carson Davis did not complete a pass in an 0-for-6 performance with an interception, while junior running back Ben Gonzalez was held in check with 75 yards on 25 carries. Gonzalez enters 2023 a season after rushing for nearly 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns as a sophomore, while Davis has the ubiquitous task of replacing do everything quarterback Peyton Hart from last season. Despite the poor performance in the passing game, Davis does have talented targets at his disposal in receivers Jace Eich and Preston Reese, but the offensive line has a tough rebuild ahead of them.
Defensively, the leading tackler that returns is linebacker Dillon McMorran, who amassed 48 tackles and 3.5 TFL as a junior. Carson Davis also steps into a full-time linebacker role after accumulating 20 tackles last season, while Jace Eich will step up as a leader in the defensive backfield, who had 25 tackles, a TFL and an interception last season. Fellow DB Preston Reese tallied an interception in last week’s game against Nevada as well. Up front, Luke Stweard, Vincent Clawson and Anthony Jovanovich lead a green defensive line group.
South Hamilton got a big performance out of Nick Severseike a week ago, rushing for 111 yards and a touchdown, while Noah Gunderson rushed for 76 yards and a touchdown. Defensively, Owen Renaud managed half a sack and 1.5 TFL, while Owen Duns had 5.5 tackles and a 1.5 TFL as well. Kolby Hodnefield led the Hawks with 7 tackles defensively against South Hardin.
West Marshall and South Hamilton kick off at 7 PM on Friday night at Bill Taylor Field in Jewell.