SOUTH WAYNE — A year after grabbing the silver ball at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, the Black Hawk Warriors are hungry for gold. After an unbeaten regular season, Black Hawk rolled Randolph 62-13 in the first round of the WIAA Division 7 playoffs Oct. 19.

“We’ve got one goal in mind and we want to get back to the carpet,” said senior Colby Argall, Black Hawk’s all-time leading rusher, referencing the artificial turf on the Wisconsin Badgers’ home field.

Argall finished with 253 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 14 carries and the Warriors gained 491 yards on the ground and another 82 through the air.

“Everybody thinks that they can run the ball, right? Every single kid on the field thinks that they can be a running back and run the ball,” Black Hawk coach Cory Milz said. “But to have that kid that can take a 5-yard run and make it a 20-yard run, get out on the edge and make people miss and make things happen — that’s special. You’re not going to go very far in the playoffs unless you have some special playmakers — it’s just as simple as that.”

Argall popped touchdown runs of 28, 42, 53, 33 and 8 yards — all in the first half. Black Hawk rested its main skill players in the second half with a running clock.

“We came out to a hot start tonight and that’s something that we want to do. The front five blocked really well, Rece Shelton cleaned up the outside linebackers and I didn’t have to do much besides run straight. All the credit to those guys,” Argall said.

The Warriors biggest surprise came on the last play of the second quarter. Argall had just taken a screen pass 57-yards to the house, but a holding penalty made it first-and-10 with seven seconds left at the Randolph 42. Black Hawk coach Cory Milz called a timeout to talk over the final play with his players.

“It’s an old play, the same one that Boise State ran against Oklahoma years ago,” Milz said.

Warriors quarterback Kyle Lovelace threw a quick bullet to his right, where Tyler Triem caught the ball 7-yards upfield and then pitched back to Rece Shelton on a hook-and-ladder for the final 35 yards and the score to make it 46-7 at halftime. 

“It’s kind of a new play that we put in last week,” Shelton said. “Tyler Triem had a good catch and I just ran. It’s pretty cool (to score on a trick play). You don’t get to do that all the time.”

The late touchdown also set Black Hawk up for a running clock to open the third quarter.

While the offense racked up the yards — 435 yards total in the first half — it was Black Hawk’s defense that separated the two teams. The Warriors held Randolph to just 7-yards rushing and 98 yards of offense in the first two quarters — with two passes going for 75 yards and the Rocket’s only touchdown before the first quarter.

“They run a nice little fun offensive scheme that we don’t see that often. It was a good challenge for our kids, but I thought our kids dominated the line of scrimmage and that was really the key,” Milz said. “They have a nice balanced group. They talked about having some young kids but, boy, they had some pretty skilled kids.”

The Warriors intercepted Randolph quarterbacks four times and forced a fumble for five total turnovers.

“(Coach Milz) said to stick to our keys and trust our eyes to get the right reads,” Argall said.

“Once we get those defensive stops they just boost our momentum on offense and it just carries on throughout the game,” Shelton added.

Lovelace finished 4 of 5 passing for 82 yards. Cayden Milz and Mitchell Quinn each had 43 yards rushing and Cody Blosch finished with 51 yards on just three carries. Jace Tuescher and Cayden Milz each scored touchdowns in the second half.

Next up for Black Hawk is an opponent all too familiar — Potosi-Cassville. The Chieftains stayed within a touchdown of the Warriors in Week 2 matchup and were the favorite to win the conference in the preseason. Potosi-Cassville roughed up Living Word Lutheran 51-19 in Level One.

“They are a few changes that we’re going to have to make because they do know us well. They are a very physical football team, and we are a very physical football team. It’s going to be interesting and a flip of the coin. They are very talented,” coach Milz said. “The first time we played them it was on a muddy field — rainy night — special teams was the difference-maker. So, we’ll see. We’ll play all out and let the chips fall where they may.”

While the end goal for Black Hawk is another shot at the gold ball, the team is focused on taking it one week at a time.

“We’re going to work hard and study hard. We want them,” Argall said.