Three fumbles push Colby past Hawks
A week after turnovers sunk their chances at being the sole owners of the Marawood conference title, the Colby Hornets flipped the script, using three fumble recoveries to crush Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau in the first round of the WIAA playoffs. The battle between the fourth-seeded Hornets and the fifth-seeded Red Hawks was not nearly as close as their seeding should have suggested. The home team racked up 14 points off of Red Hawk turnovers and held their opponents scoreless through three quarters in their 49-16 victory.
The biggest question coming into the game was whether Colby’s first loss of the season would have any effect on how the team played on Friday. Had it demoralized a team that had rolled through most of their opponents with relative ease prior to the 20-14 loss to Auburndale? Or would it serve as motivation to improve, an eye-opening experience that taught that execution can be just as important as talent? For those close to the Hornets camp, the answer was evident throughout the week’s practices. Everyone else quickly learned.
Colby took no time establishing themselves. Nathaniel Robida caught the opening kickoff on his own eight-yard line and allowed his blockers to set themselves in a wedge formation. Robida found a crease in the middle of the field and accelerated through it, breaking free for a 92-yard return touchdown. 11 seconds into the game and the Hornets had already taken a 7-0 lead.
The return was a hint of things to come. After the defense held G-E-T to a three-and-out on the following possession, Colby used excellent starting field position to push their advantage further. On their first offensive possession, the Hornets employed a steady dose of run plays featuring Caden Healy and Ivan Haemer, a combination that the Red Hawks struggled to stop. Colby mixed in a pass play to push into the red zone, with Tucker Meyer finding Haemer in the flats to move the chains. Haemer would finish the job several plays later, finding paydirt on a one-yard run up the gut.
The visitors, needing a response, started a convincing drive of their own. Using tight formations and misdirection, the Red Hawks broke into Hornet territory during their second possession. However, this drive would end prematurely for G-E-T, as they’d give the ball up on the first of their three fumbles. As the clock wound towards the end of the first quarter, Red Hawks quarterback Cody Schmitz followed his blockers around the right side of the line, pushing close to a first down on what appeared would be an eight-yard gain. As Schmitz went down, he landed on top of the body of a Colby defender, and while he was being rolled, Hornets linebacker Erik Martinez stripped the ball away before the ball carrier was marked down. Colby took over on their own 35-yard line, but it didn’t take them long to score. Thanks to a 24-yard run from Tevin Rue to open the drive, the Hornets moved quickly down the field. Haemer scored his second touchdown of the evening on a 22-yard run, breaking two tackles to turn a play for no-gain into a score for the Hornets.
Martinez spelled the end of a second promising drive for the Red Hawks. With G-E-T driving once more, Martinez knocked the ball loose along the west sideline, where it was scooped up by Healy. With nothing but green in front of him, Healy took the ball 84 yards the opposite direction for a Hornet touchdown. Tucker Brost put the ball through the uprights on the extra point attempt and Colby was now up 28-0.
Desperate to get something on the board before halftime, G-E-T attempted to convert on fourth down deep in their own territory on the next drive. Isaac Raatz came up with a pass deflection on the play and the Hornets took over with the ball on the Red Hawks’ 24-yard line. Colby would make the visitors pay for their aggression, scoring on a three-yard touchdown pass from Meyer to tight end Kaden Wiese with eight seconds left in the half.
Things went from bad to worse on the Red Hawks’ first possession of the second half. Forced into a passing situation on third-and-ten, Schmitz dropped back to his left but was immediately pressured by Hornet defensive lineman Oscar Zamora. The G-E-T quarterback initially managed to get away, but the ball was knocked loose as his own lineman hit his arm. Martinez zoomed in to fall on the ball for the Hornets for his third big defensive play of the evening.
While the Hornets couldn’t convert the turnover into points, missing a field goal on the ensuing possession, they would force a three-and-out from G-E-T and set themselves up with great starting field position on the following drive. Rue and Haemer had runs of 15 and 14 yards to set up Healy, who jogged the ball across the goal line on a seven-yard touchdown run. With only 16 seconds left in the third quarter, the Hornets were up 42-0.
While the Red Hawks were finally able to find the endzone on their first drive of the fourth quarter, the Hornets were able to answer right back. Gavin Voss snapped off the Hornets’ longest play from scrimmage on the drive, a 30-yard run of a sweep around the right side of the line and then scored two plays later on the exact same call. G-E-T managed to score one final time, but by that point the game had been decided. Colby walked off the field triumphant, 49-16.
“I thought our football players came out with a focus and intensity that we haven’t seen for a number of weeks,” head coach Jim Hagen said. “We clearly played well in all three phases of the game.”
“As a coach, it is so pleasing to see a game plan installed during the week whether it be defense or offense and then see it carried out so well by the players,” he added.
It was a solid all-around performance for the fourth-seeded Hornets. They capitalized on special teams, forced turnovers on defense and had a consistency on offense that has sometimes lacked over the course of four quarters over the season.
Leading that offense was Healy, who had 103 yards rushing on 13 carries for the Hornets. Haemer and Rue were also big pieces of a rushing attack that racked up 288 yards. Haemer had 11 carries for 78 yards and two touchdowns and Rue finished with four carries for 43 yards. Gavin Voss had 45 yards on three second-half carries and also scored a touchdown for Colby. Robida also had a 13 yard run on a reverse that gave the Hornets a first down.
Colby did not ask much of Meyer in the passing game, but he delivered when they did turn to the air. He completed two of his three passes, one of which went to Wiese for a touchdown and the other was an 11-yard completion to Haemer which set up the home team’s second touchdown of the evening.
“We were efficient on offense and I thought our blocking at the line of scrimmage was very good and our backs ran hard,” Hagen said.
The Hornets also did not turn the ball over all evening, which was a vast improvement over the week prior.
Meanwhile, on the defensive side of the ball, the Hornets made some big plays when they had to. While G-E-T managed 273 yards of total offense, that only amounted to 16 points for the Red Hawks.
“We bent a little bit at times but we didn’t give up any real big plays that can demoralize a defense,” Hagen said of his defense. “We also forced five fumbles and recovered three.”
Raatz led the team in tackles, finishing the evening with 12. Healy and Rue contributed to seven tackles and Healy returned a fumble for a touchdown late in the second quarter. Martinez was in on five tackles while also being part of all three fumbles that were recovered by the Hornets. He forced two fumbles and also recovered two.
Colby will have to travel for the second round, heading to the Wisconsin-Minnesota border to take on St. Croix Falls. The Saints are the one-seed in Colby’s regional, and like the Hornets, have one loss on the season. They took secondplace in the Heart O’ North conference, their only loss coming against the conference winner, Northwestern. In round one, the Saints defeated eighth-seeded Bloomer by a score of 36-14. The Hornets will have to slow down Aiden Meador, who has almost 1,500 yards rushing and 20 touchdowns this season, if they hope to advance. The game is to start at 7:00 p.m.
DAYLIGHT- Caden Healy breaks free on a running play in the third.
2 FAST, 2 FURIOUS- Tevin Rue (2), breaks off a huge, 24-yard gain on Colby’s second possession of the game. STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
