The South Hamilton Hawks football team will return to action on Friday Night, as they hit the road for the 2nd week in a row to take on the West Marshall Trojans in non-district action at West Marshall High School in State Center. South Hamilton won last year’s meeting in Jewell by a score of 48-13, but West Marshall leads the all-time series 33-19, dating back to 1964 between the two HOIC rivals.
West Marshall faced a tough task in it’s opener, falling by a score of 33-7 to (3A) #8 Nevada. One positive that emerged was the play of senior quarterback Michael Lechnir. While Lechnir only completed 4 passes with 2 interceptions, he still managed to rush for 111 yards, as running back Ben Gonzalez was held in check to just 40 yards. Lechnir does have weapons on the outside in seniors AJ Dee, Dawson Bear and Holden Simms, while the offensive line returns some key experience after a tough 2023 campaign.
Defensively, junior Kinnick Geers had a career game against the Cubs, as he picked off 3 of Connor King’s 4 interceptions, returning one for a touchdown for the Trojans only score of the game. Michael Lenir and Shane Hanford put together solid performances as well, with each linebacker recording 8 tackles, while fellow linebacker Ben Gonzalez recorded 7.5 tackles. Cash Johnston recorded the only sack of the night from the defensive line, while Luke Steward saw key action against the Cubs as well.
South Hamilton will look to bounce back following their blowout loss to South Hardin in the opener, in which the Hawks still moved the football with success, rushing for over 250 yards in the loss. The big question mark will be the defenses response after allowing over 550 yards of total offense in Week 1.
Kickoff is slated for 7 PM on Friday Night from West Marshall High School in State Center.