Friday marked the 51st meeting in the Battle for the Hamilton-Story County Line as the Roland-Story Norsemen took on the (1A) #6 South Hamilton Hawks at Gilbert High School, due to renovations at Kerry Van Winkle Field. The Norsemen entered at 1-1 with a win over South Tama an loss to Nevada, while the Hawks entered at 2-0 with wins over South Hardin and West Marshall.
The night started off well for South Hamilton, as the Hawks held the Norsemen 3-and-out on the first drive, followed by a long, sustained drive capped off by a Preston Van De Pol 12-yard touchdown run, to make the score 8-0 South Hamilton. Both teams would trade punts on ensuing possessions, before Hesston Johnson took the first play of the Norsemen’s 3rd drive 47 yards for a touchdown to tie the score at 8-8. South Hamilton would answer right back with another long drive, with it capped off by a Kolby Hodnefield 1-yard touchdown run to make the score 14-8 after the failed 2-point conversion. From there, Roland-Story would begin to take over, as the Norsemen hit a big pass from Sam Knoll to Riley Larson, but Larson would have the ball punched out at the end, only to be recovered by Boaz Clark at the 3-yard line. Hesston Johnson scored on the next play to make it 15-14 Roland-Story. Disaster struck on the next drive for South Hamilton, as backup quarterback Braden Young fumbled the exchange and freshman Fiston Carlson ran the loose ball back 24 yards for a touchdown to make it 22-14 going into halftime.
The 2nd half would start out well for South Hamilton, as the Hawks took nearly 8 minutes off the clock to start the half, as Nick Severseike punched in a touchdown from 11 yards out to make it 22-20 late in the 3rd quarter. However, Roland-Story would use ground and pound football to start the 4th quarter, and Hesston Johnson punched in his 3rd touchdown of the night to make the score 29-20. The ending of the game was frantic, as both teams traded turnovers in the final 8 minutes, but Roland-Story would hold on for the 29-20 win over South Hamilton, the Norsemen’s first win over the Hawks since 2016.
The Jewell Market Player of the Game was Hesston Johnson of Roland-Story, with 14 carries, 99 yards and 3 touchdowns, as well as 11 tackles and 1 TFL. Roland-Story opens up district play on Friday, when they host Carroll Kuemper at newly-renovated Kerry Van Winkle Field. South Hamilton opens district play on Friday night, as they make the trip to Stuart to take on West Central Valley.