Short-handed Hawks no match for highly-ranked Hurley

HURLEY 54, RIB LAKE-PRENTICE 0

The Hurley Northstars entered Friday’s game as the state’s third-ranked Division 7 team according to the Wis-Sports.net coaches poll and they showed why, spoiling the homecoming festivities for the Rib Lake-Prentice faithful in a 54-0 blowout win in Prentice.

Facing one of the top small-school rushing attacks in the state was going to be tough enough. Then the Hawks were faced with some adversity in the week leading up to the game, finding out they wouldn’t have starting quarterback Michael Borchardt, and they lost their leading rusher and linebacker Sam Gumz early in the game after he tweaked his knee.

Hurley (5-0 Lakeland Conference, 7-0 overall) came into the game averaging 357 yards rushing per game and surpassed that with 397 yards Friday on just 24 rushing attempts (16.5 yards per attempt). Four backs ran for at least 45 yards led by Max Blamey’s 103 yards on nine attempts. He scored three touchdowns.

Quarterback Ayden Leinon ran for 45 yards on his only carry and threw for 72 yards while completing three of four passes.

Already without backup quarterback Jackson Blomberg, who has been out since getting injured in week one, the Hawks turned to junior Dominick Classen to take the snaps. The Hawks finished with just 36 yards of total offense, led by 32 rushing yards from freshman Jonas Staroba. Jordan Yanko had 18 yards on nine carries.

“We weren’t in horrible positions blocking-wise, but their linebackers were big and strong and they clogged up the holes,” Hawks’ co-head coach Jonah Campbell said. “Their defensive line was aggressive and played with low pad level. In the first half Sammy went down with a knee injury, so we sat him out for the rest of the game. We didn’t have our starting quarterback and didn’t have our best runner, so it was uphill from there. Defensively we popped the ball out a couple of times, but ultimately we had a pretty rough day trying to stop their offense.”

Hurley scored twice in the first quarter and then tacked on three more touchdowns in the second quarter to build a 36-0 halftime lead. The Northstars scored once in the third quarter and with reserves on the field in the late going, they put up two fourth-quarter scores.

Rib Lake-Prentice fell to 0-6 in games played this fall, though the Hawks’ official Lakeland Conference record is 2-3.

Campbell said the Hawks found out last Monday they’d have to find an alternate quarterback and that Classen did well with the limited playbook the Hawks felt comfortable running. He will likely be in that position again this Friday when Rib Lake-Prentice visits Grantsburg.

“He played fairly well as far as handing off and running things,” Campbell said. “We’ll try to work on throwing more this week. We didn’t really have that as a threat last week.”

Upon reviewing the film, Campbell said the coaches were most pleased with how the Hawks carried out their assignments, particularly with their blocking. It was just a matter of being overmatched by an excellent football team.

“We were in the right position most of the time,” he said. “It was one of those games where you just got beat. We highlighted it on film a couple of times where their linemen came at this pad level. We were blocking them, doing the right things. It was just a matter of they were getting push back, squeezing the holes and pinching the holes we had.”

Rib Lake-Prentice will be challenged again this week at Grantsburg, a team that is in the hunt for at least second place in the conference, a spot that could be decided next week when the Pirates visit Unity. Unity is at Hurley this Friday. A Hurley win wraps up the undisputed title for the Northstars, who will get a forfeit in week nine. A Unity win puts the Eagles in control though they would still have the Grantsburg hurdle to clear.

Grantsburg comes into Friday’s contest on a roll, having won their last three games 28-6 over Ladysmith, 42-0 over Webster and 40-0 over Marathon. The Pirates feature a pass-first spread offense, which will be something new for the Hawks to defend.

“It’s going to be tough,” Campbell said. “There’s a lot to try to overcome, but I think we can play a good game on Friday if we have a solid week of practice and keep everybody healthy.”