SOUTH WAYNE —  After 51 weeks of waiting, the Black Hawk football team will get a second chance against Bangor. Call it the Redemption Bowl.

In the state championship a year ago, an undefeated Bangor walloped unbeaten Black Hawk 37-14. That loss left a bitter taste and added fuel to the fire for the Warriors this past offseason.

“We didn’t forget that feeling,” Black Hawk senior Colby Argall said. “That’s the worst feeling in the world. They really took it to us up there (at state). Every day when we woke up and came in here to lift weights in the morning, that feeling was still there. Now we get to go get rid of it.”

Black Hawk earned their right to reach the WIAA Division 7 state semifinal by completely controlling Benton-Scales Mound 36-12 Nov. 2 in a Level 3 playoff matchup. Bangor dominated Highland 48-6.

“I think at this point the kids are pretty confident. They’ve been motivated all year to get back to the Camp. The fact that it’s against Bangor makes it sweeter,” Black Hawk head coach Cory Milz said.

The Warriors rushed for 288 yards against the Zephyrs, with the brunt of the work coming between the tackles for 3-9 yards at a time. Twenty-two of Black Hawk’s 48 carries went for between 3-9 yards, which helped milk the clock, control time of possession and limit Benton-Scales Mound’s passing attack.

“Points are huge, but the big thing for us was trying to make them one-dimensional and develop a pass rush. Our kids did that early on,” Milz said.

It didn’t take long for the Warriors to announce their presence with authority. After forcing BSM to a quick three-and-out with negative-two yards lost, Black Hawk forced a punt. The Zephyrs did the unthinkable — they booted the ball to the Warriors’ dangerous return man Colby Argall. Argall fielded the ball at his own 33, paused, moved to the short side of the field toward the sideline, then cut back inside before turning on the afterburners and leaving everyone in his dust. The 67-yard punt return for a score put Black Hawk up 6-0 without the offense stepping onto the field.

“I like to be patient back there and let everybody run to me, then make one or two cuts and it’s all green grass,” Argall said. “People haven’t been kicking to me too much, so I’m glad they did.” 

The Warriors’ defense again forced a quick three-and-out, but this time the punt sailed out of bounds. Black Hawk then marched 67 yards on 10 plays for another score to go ahead 14-0. Senior quarterback Kyle Lovelace made all the right option reads on the drive, picking up gains of 15, 27, six and four yards, with the final being the touchdown score.

“It gives me a lot (of confidence) when I see the line blocking and making holes for me,” Lovelace said. “It helps give me the opportunity to make big plays.”

BSM could not get any offense going still, gaining just one yard on its next drive. Black Hawk went for the throat after another punt sailed out of bounds at the 50. The Warriors needed just five plays before Argall ran off a 29-yard scamper to the end zone that made it 22-0 with 11:08 left in the second quarter.

Desperate to get something to spark the offense, BSM turned to trick plays in the second quarter and connected on a couple, albeit with some luck. After facing yet another fourth down after three plays, BSM punter Brooks Tiedeman chucked a pass toward midfield that was tipped in the air and brought down by teammate Nick Brant for a 30-yard gain. After a Wyatt Bastian pass was nearly intercepted in the end zone, Will Lawrence broke a pair of tackles on a steamrolling run play and scored from 24-yards out to make it 22-6.

“They had a wild second quarter,” Milz said, adding that the coaches told their players, “we are taking away their normal stuff, so they are resorting to these types of things. Don’t panic, we’re fine.”

On their next possession, the Zephyrs again read through the encyclopedia of Houdini Magic Tricks and completed a double-reverse pass to Nathan Mowry for a 38-yard gain on the second play of the drive. After another near interception two plays later, on the fifth play of the drive Bastian threw a perfect spiral to Kaelan Shetler in stride for a 29-yard TD.

“They got some deep, but when you throw the ball that many times, you’re going to get something,” Milz said.

Black Hawk responded, as Argall ran the ball in for his third score of the game with 1:20 left in the half to make it 28-12. Argall almost scored one final time, as BSM’s punt in the final seconds of the half left Argall with space up the right sideline, but the officials blew the play dead with Argall’s toe stepping out of bounds at the 30 with a clear path to the end zone.

In the second half, the Warriors dominated the time of possession even more, starting with a 14-play, 69-yard drive that was capped with a two-yard TD run by Argall on fourth down. The drive took more than 7 1/2 minutes off the game clock.

“Before the game we challenged our offensive and defensive lines and really said that it’s still a game of tackling and blocking. All the passing and that stuff down the field, it’s still going to come to whether or not we can exert our dominance on them and exert our will and run the football when we need to do it,” Milz said. “And that third quarter we did that, and I think that was huge.”

Black Hawk’s “D” stepped up again, with Brandon Schiferl cutting down a runner for five-yard loss and Nick Hull sacking Bastian for a 7-yard loss on the next play. Black Hawk as a team sacked Bastian five times in the game for -36 yards.

While the Warriors didn’t score again, another 14-play drive cut another six minutes off the clock and left BSM to just eight minutes to do anything more to get back into the game. The Zephyrs couldn’t, however, and Black Hawk gets the redemption game it spent all offseason preparing for.

“Mitchell runs like a bull and Kyle Lovelace is a heck of a quarterback. He’s really smart with the ball. The line was pushing really well tonight and everyone did their part to get a big win,” Argall said.

Argall had 123 yards rushing on 25 carries in the contest, with Mitchell Quinn bullying his way for 60 yards on 10 carries and Lovelace netting 76 yards on 11 runs. Rece Shelton had 29 rushing yards on two carries and added another 48 receiving yards on a pair of screen passes. 

Bastian, a prolific passer in the Six Rivers, was just 6 of 15 passing for 86 yards. The Zephyrs gained just 51 rushing yards on 25 carries.