LIVINGSTON — Black Hawk-Warren averaged 23 points per quarter in the opening half, as the fourth-ranked team in Division 7 demolished Iowa-Grant (2-3, 2-1 Six Rivers) on Sept. 20, 62-0.
The win also broke a three-way tie atop the conference, with the Warriors (4-1) and top-ranked Potosi-Cassville sitting at 3-0 in league play.
If not for a running clock, BHW would’ve maintained that pace to the final buzzer despite subbing in its backups. For BHW head coach Desmond Breadon, the reaction to the victory was consistent with prior weeks — happy, but not satisfied.
“I was happy with the outcome but know we need to continue to improve as a team and coaches,” he said. “I was so proud of our backups, and how they played — they did a phenomenal job. It was great to see the starters cheering them on and helping coach them up from the sideline.”
The Warriors held the Panthers to a loss of nine yards in the starting drive before returning a punt to the IG 38. The mark was where the Panthers needed to reach to earn their first down.
Like so many times already this season, Owen Seffrood’s number was called for a rush, and the result was a modest, 4-yard gain. A consecutive play on the ground for the senior standout yielded 30 yards, and Piercen Mahoney got the go-ahead in the Warriors’ first red-zone trip. His legs got him inches from the goal line, and Seffrood earned the first score of the night four minutes in with a successful 2-point attempt to follow.
Beau Podnar cut IG’s next drive short, picking off their second play. BHW needed just three plays over 42 yards to one-up itself. Mahoney was the recipient of the scoring rush from 35 yards out, as well as the 2-point conversion, as he seeked to keep up with Seffrood less than six minutes into the contest.
The Warriors had the ball back in their hands less than a minute later, as they forced a turnover on downs at the Panthers’ 38. Three continued to be the magic number, as a third-and-inches rush translated to a 28-yard score on the ground for Seffrood. A successful connection from Eli Schliem to Bryce VanRaalte on the 2-point attempt set a 24-0 mark that held through the end of the first quarter.
A pair of touchdowns marked the second quarter — Seffrood split scoring duties with Schliem, as each tallied a 9-yard score on the ground, initiating a running clock. BHW failed a 2-point conversion on the latter’s touchdown, and the 38-0 split stuck into the break.
That would’ve been the case, but with a half second on the clock, one of the Warriors’ players called a timeout, much to Breadon’s ire. The unplanned break resulted in Seffrood’s final score of the night, the ensuing 2-point conversion was his last trip into the end zone.
“I told them we would work our way down the field, and if we scored, great,” Breadon said. “With the way the score was, I didn’t feel the need to call a timeout to score.”
The backups were featured primarily in the second half, where Podnar took over under center and tallied a score on the ground in the third. Braxten Kent was responsible for the only non-rushing score of the game. He hauled in an interception, and took it 20 yards for the final points of the night in the 62-0 blowout.
Seffrood’s four touchdowns paired with a 167-yard, 17-carry effort, and Mahoney trailed him by three scores and 45 yards on six fewer rushing attempts. Two more BHW rushers — Schliem and Dax Paquin — averaged a minimum of 10 yards per carry on a night where the team totaled 412 yards and seven scores. Schliem wasn’t the only back under center, but his two attempts through the air converted to one completion to VanRaalte for 31 yards.
Defensively, both Podnar and Kent recorded a pair of interceptions.
Even in the big score differential for the third time in four weeks, Breadon is making improvement the focus for his squad moving forward.
“The big thing we talk about is that we’re happy with the outcome, but there’s things we can improve,” he said. “So, even guys that had great games, there’s still little things that they can improve on. They may have gotten there for a block, but their head might not have been on the right side. They might have come straight up off the snap, instead of a 45-degree angle. Every little detail’s got to be perfect, and they take ownership in it, they revel in it.”
