HAZEL GREEN — The kickoff for the 2026 football season was nearly perfect — from the inclement weather that came in ahead of schedule giving way to beautiful temperatures and mostly clear skies, to a 38-20 Black Hawk/Warren beatdown at Southwestern/East Dubuque on Aug. 21.
It was only nearly perfect — because while the Warriors posted the opening score three minutes in on a 56-yard run from Beau Podnar in which the junior wriggled out of several tackles, mistakes and penalties helped the WarCats flip the lead with two straight scores to close the first quarter.
BH/W spent 4:53 in regulation with a 12-8 deficit as hosting-SW/ED failed to convert on both of its 2-point conversions, responding with another Beau Podnar-capped rush, this time from four yards out. Dax Paquin was leaned on for both of the Warriors’ conversions, which the junior back converted.
With just under 16 minutes of total time on the books, BH/W had the final lead change of the nights. It merely hammered home the point with a pair of scores. The first came just ahead of the half on an 8-play drive culminating with a Paquin rushing from 11 yards out, followed by a successful conversion from the same running back. The second came at the tail end of the third quarter, with Podnar marking a hat trick thanks to a 7-yard rush, also complimented by a Paquin conversion.
In between the touchdowns came a halftime break where Warriors head coach Desmond Breadon hammered home some much needed points.
“At half, we talked about how we need to quit shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said. “We also talked about finishing every block, tackle, run, drive, and game as well as settling down and just playing football.”
The prior of the two scores also put the game on ice, despite an early fourth-quarter passing touchdown from the WarCats. Not to go out on a low note or be one-upped, Podnar also connected with Trent Bidlingmaier with under five minutes left for a 33-yard score.
Despite closing the matchup on a 30-8 run, Breadon believes there were plenty of areas to make improvements.
“I was really happy with the win, but we have a lot to work on,” he said. “We did make some good improvements from last week. We are still having too many mental mistakes. Our tackling, leverage, and coverage need to continue to improve. Offensively, our blocking, footwork, and passing need to continue to improve.”
Even with the laundry list of changes, BH/W had plenty of highs on the stats sheet. Paquin (21 att, 161 yds, 1 TD), Podnar (15 att, 118 yds, 3 TD), and Brody Argall (16 att, 94 yds) accounted for all 373 rushing yards. Paquin and Argall also accounted for the squad’s only forced fumble and fumble recovery, respectively. Meanwhile, Podnar finished the day 1-for-3 for 33 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
As a team, the Warriors committed eight penalties for 60 yards, earned 19 first downs, and converted all three of their fourth down situations.
BH/W returns home to Warren where it next hosts Illinois opponent, Stockton, on Aug. 28, before starting with conference play on the road at Boscobel (0-1) a week after.
