MADISON — After coming oh-so-close in 2017, the Black Hawk Warriors capped a purpose-driven season with a 22-15 win over Edgar in the WIAA Division 7 state championship Nov. 15.

“It’s amazing. It feels amazing. I’m at a loss of words right now,” senior Rece Shelton said.

Black Hawk lost to Bangor a year ago, taking home the silver. The taste of defeat never left the mouths of the players who then spent the entire offseason seeking redemption. 

“This whole offseason we were focused on one goal and that goal was to get back here and win it this time,” junior lineman Avery Baumgartner said.

The game started with a bang, as Brandon Schiferl recovered an Edgar fumble on the first play from scrimmage. Three plays later, senior Mitchell Quinn went 44 yards up the middle for a touchdown and then added the two-point conversion.

“It felt amazing getting that first score off the bat,” Quinn said. “It obviously set the tone.” 

The score was the first points any team had scored on Edgar (13-1) in the first quarter all season. Edgar came back, however, and scored on back-to-back drives to take a 15-8 lead with 3:35 left in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, it appeared Black Hawk (13-0) had its back broken after an interception deep in Edgar territory, but Wildcats quarterback Karson Butt fumbled for a second time two plays later with Shelton recovering the ball at the Edgar 14-yard line.

“Our kids were motivated,” said head coach Cory Milz. “I didn’t think that we were rattled from the get-go, and I think that happens often times at state. They were able to come out loose and fast and hit them in the mouth and I think that got Edgar on their heels a little bit and surprised.”

The Warriors took advantage of the opportunity, with senior Colby Argall punching in a score from the 1-yard-line three plays later. Black Hawk went into the half trailing 15-14.

“We made some clarifications on defense (at halftime), because we knew their plan of attack was to spread the field and throw the ball,” Milz said. “We did a couple of different things and added a dime package at halftime to make sure we were covering up some vertical stuff.”

The second half opened as a mirror of the first half, with Black Hawk QB Kyle Lovelace turning the ball over on the first play from scrimmage with an interception. However, the Warriors held Edgar to a 3-and-out thanks to a dropped wide-open pass to Ty Guden — the same player who intercepted Lovelace — and then stifled the Wildcats on a fake punt on fourth down.

“We threw that interception on the first play out of halftime, and to not panic and get down just speaks volumes about these kids,” Milz said.

The defining moment of the game followed, as the Warriors matched 67 yards down the field on an 18-play drive that took exactly 10 minutes off the game clock. The drive was punctuated when Lovelace faked a handoff to Argall on third-and-goal from the 1 and strolled into the end zone to give his team the lead. Argall then flipped a running back pass to Schiferl in the end zone for the two-point conversion and a 22-15 advantage.

“We have to give the credit to the line,” said Quinn, who converted to fullback this season. “They didn’t give up. Technique matters and they didn’t get lazy and kept on chopping their feet so we could pound the rock.” 

The players took the sustained drive to add to their confidence in closing out the game.

“I think it really pumped them up — especially to go down and score on that drive,” Shelton said.

Edgar’s next drive following the touchdown lasted just three plays before a punt pinned Black Hawk at its own 5. Edgar punter Mason Stoudt pinned the Warriors inside their own 20 three times in the game, with a long punt of 57 yards and an average punt of 51.

Black Hawk’s following drive lasted 11 plays and took nearly another 7 minutes off the clock before a fourth down punt. Edgar, which had five fumbles as a team in the game, muffed the punt, but recovered at their own 14. Six plays later, with 2:21 left in the fourth quarter, Will Raatz was hit and fumbled with Black Hawk sophomore Cayden Milz coming up with the recovery.

“Cayden just did what he’s done all year and that’s make big plays for us on defense. He’s a heck of a defensive player,” Argall said.

Coach Milz took home the silver ball with both Cayden and eldest son Brody on last year’s team. He said his middle son was ready to make a big play.

“You look at your middle children, and they can be sometimes overshadowed. Following Brody is tough, because he had a lot of success and limelight, and Cayden has been under the radar,” coach Milz said. “But he works incredibly hard, he’s a tough nose kid who has done an incredible job for us on defense this year — so to see him have a big moment makes me incredibly proud as a father.”

Black Hawk’s offense was able to pick up a key first down on the final drive — courtesy of a 4-yard bulldozing run by Lovelace — and grind out the clock.

“I can’t believe it,” Lovelace said. “It’s an amazing feeling and the best day of my life.” 

Argall finished with 34 carries for 109 yards — just a 3.2 yards per carry average, the worst of his season. But with Lovelace and Quinn each picking up 75 rushing yards, Black Hawk was able to milk the clock throughout the game and limit Edgar’s offense. The Warriors led the time of possession 34:50-13:10. Lovelace was also 4-for-6 passing for 29 yards. Argall caught a 7-yard screen, Cayden Milz picked up 9 yards on a third-and-8 on the long drive in the third quarter, and Shelton had two catches for 13 yards, including a highlight-reel one-handed catch in traffic for 7 yards.

Defensively, the Warriors were even more stout, holding Edgar to just 96 rushing yards and 164 total — the lowest output of the season for the Wildcats.

“It feels great proving everyone wrong — all the news reporters and WisSports didn’t have us winning. We were the underdogs coming into this game, and it relieved the pressure off because we didn’t have anything to lose,” Quinn said. “It’s a great feeling.”

With this likely Black Hawk’s last season as a sole school — a co-op with Warren (Illinois) awaits — Argall, the schools’ all-time leading rusher, summed it up. 

“It’s a perfect ending,” he said. “A perfect ending for everything. We couldn’t have written it any better.”