The South Hamilton Hawks football team returned to action on Friday night, as they opened their Class 1A, District 7 slate by hosting the West Central Valley Wildcats at Bill Taylor Field in Jewell. South Hamilton entered Friday with a record of 0-3, while West Central Valley entered with a record of 2-1.
After trading 3-and-outs, South Hamilton would put together a big drive capped off by a 4-yard touchdown run by Kolby Hodnefield to put the Hawks up 8-0. South Hamilton would catch the Wildcats by surprise with a Braden Young pooch kick on the ensuing kickoff, which was muffed by an upback and recovered by Lyndon Johnson to give the Hawks another possession. South Hamilton would cash in immediately, as Young found the aforementioned Johnson for a 34-yard pass on the very next play, before Ashton Williams punched in a 1-yard touchdown run 3 plays later to put South Hamilton up 16-0 with the 2-point conversion. The Hawks defense would make a big play on the ensuing WCV possession as Landon Sogard picked off a Colton Lindsay pass to set the Hawks up in Wildcat territory. The Hawks would go to the air again, this time Young found Sogard running down the seam for a 25-yard touchdown pass to put South Hamilton up 22-0 going into halftime.
West Central Valley would pull their own special teams trick on the opening kickoff of the 2nd half, as Shawn Kent recovered a pooch kick to give the Wildcats the ball and a short field. However, the Wildcats would give the Hawks the ball back on a fumble that would be recovered by Kolby Hodnefield. South Hamilton would unfortunately give the ball back on a tipped pass that was picked off by Jarel Madison, before Trenton Naragon scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to make the score 22-7. Scoring would stall until late in the 4th quarter, as Nick Severseike picked off a Colton Lindsay 4th down pass to set the Hawks up deep in Wildcat territory. The drive was capped off by a 5-yard touchdown run by Ashton Williams to put the Hawks up 30-7 and would remain the final score.
Braden Young would go 4-6 for 65 yards and a touchdown and a pick, while rushing for another 17 yards, as Kolby Hodnefield led the Hawks with 52 yards rushing on 11 carries. Ashton Williams had 50 yards and 2 touchdowns on 14 carries, while Nick Severseike had 49 yards on 10 carries. Titus Herrick had a big day on defense with 3 tackles and 2 sacks for the Hawks.
South Hamilton football returns to action on Friday, when they make the trip to Greenfield to take on Nodaway Valley in District 7 action at 7 PM.