SOUTH WAYNE — A perfect record is a marker of success, but it isn’t the only unit of measure for a coach. And it isn’t the most important by a mile. 

“Even though we didn’t finish the season where we wanted, in terms of wins and losses, it was a successful season,” #1 Warriors head coach Desmond Breadon said. “I was talking with a senior parent after the game, and we discussed that the most important thing for me as a coach is the men we are producing from this program. I think we’ll see in 20 years that the members of this team are really good human beings.”

As far as the D7 Level 2 game was concerned, there was simply not enough time, a point Breadon focused on following his team’s 34-28 loss to fifth-seeded Cashton on Oct. 31.

“One of the things I told the boys after the game was we didn’t lose, we just ran out of time,” he said. “I’m so proud of the boys and all they accomplished this season. They performed better than most people thought they would this year. We were picked to finish at best third in conference, and to go undefeated in what I think is the toughest conference in D7 says a lot.”

Not only did conference champion Black Hawk-Warren run the table on the Six Rivers at 7-0, it also posted a perfect 10-0 on the regular season, earning Breadon’s first undefeated regular season in his 6-year stint with the team. 2025 was also the Warriors’ first outright conference title under its newest head coach, and they finished no worse than runner up in each season.

BHW got off to a hot start, capping one of its quicker opening drives of the season with a Jacob Woodruff 1-yard rush for a touchdown a little under four minutes into the first quarter. Unfortunately, the Eagles (8-3) responded in spades. Their first points didn’t come for six minutes, but from the 2-minute mark in the first to 6:35 left in the second frame, Cashton tacked on a trio of touchdowns with successful PAT’s. It simultaneously held the hosting Warriors’ scoreless, pushing their deficit to 21-6.

A major causation for BHW’s woes came in the turnover department, where two of them resulted in a pair of scores over the game.

“I said before the game, winning the turnover battle and controlling the line of scrimmage were going to be the keys to the game,” Breadon said. “We had two turnovers inside our own 20-yard line, and that resulted in 13 points, which was the difference in the game.”

Despite this, the Warriors inched their way back into the matchup. Thrice, they worked within one possession. 

The first came with 4:23 to play in the first half as Dax Paquin broke off the only over-50-yard gain of the night on a 60-yard rushing score. A Beau Podnar 2-point rush set the deficit at 21-14. The Eagles responded before the break with a long gain for a touchdown, but BHW didn’t surrender. 

The second was the only score of the third quarter — Woodruff’s second score on a 1-yard scamper where he also converted the 2-point attempt on the ground, putting the deficit at 28-22 with 2:38 left in the period.

Cashton continued providing a measured response, posting a rushing touchdown at the outset of the fourth quarter, but Woodruff had yet another answer for the Warriors. Four minutes into the final quarter, he scored the final points of the night on a 19-yard rushing touchdown. A lack of a successful 2-point conversion put a bow on the upset, though neither team knew it yet.

And as BHW stared down an 81-yard drive winning opportunity with 39 seconds to play following a turnover-on-downs by the Eagles, it had as much hope as ever.

A pair of incomplete passes marked third-and-10, before Podnar finally connected with Woodruff at their own 37, with a spiked ball on the ensuing play, killing the clock with 18 seconds left.

Podnar’s next opportunity came when he fired a bomb to Woodruff again that would’ve put the Warriors inside Cashton’s 20 after scrambling out of a sack, but the pass was broken up with eight seconds remaining. He wouldn’t get a third pass downfield, as he got wrapped up and sacked, with time expiring three seconds later.

“I told [the team] not to let Friday night define this season or them as a team,” Breadon said. “Friday night was really disappointing with the outcome. I take the blame for the loss. We made mistakes that cost us and I didn’t have them ready to play at their best level. We just didn’t do the little things in the game and Cashton did, so hats off to them.”

Woodruff was effective just about any time he had the ball in his hands, leading all rushers (21 car, 148 yds, 3 TD), and finishing second among all receivers (2 rec, 37 yds). He accounted for all but one of Podnar’s three completions on 11 attempts for 63 yards, the other being hauled in by Bryce VanRaalte for 26 yards. Podnar was runner up on the BHW roster in terms of rushing at 91 yards over 14 carries, followed by Paquin (3 car, 74 yds, 1 TD). The Warriors more than doubled their opponents’ output at 376 yards (313 rushing, 63 passing) to 186 (120 rushing, 66 passing).