SOUTH WAYNE — The No. 8 Warriors manifested a two-possession advantage by the beginning of the second quarter as they went on to slaughter Iowa-Grant in their homecoming game on Sept. 20, 62-22.

Black Hawk-Warren (4-0, 3-0 Six Rivers) allowed just one yard of offense from the Panthers’ opening drive resulting in a four-and-out. It did not take long for a scoring response as Jacob Woodruff got the Warriors within striking distance of the end zone with a 26-yard rush that saw him drag a trio of defenders on two separate occasions to the IG 31. The BHW front five opened a hole on the line the width of the county for Beau Podnar to run through, and he made it the rest of the way in for a touchdown just 3:33 into the contest. Woodruff got the nod on a successful ground conversion attempt.

Another score was in store for the Warriors, but it’d come just seconds into the second quarter following a Panthers punt and turnover on downs, as well as a host school fumble. BHW got its second scoring drive efficiently. It did not lose yardage on any play, and did not rely on a fourth down attempt at any point. The biggest play of the drive came as Podnar connected with Bryce VanRaalte for a 30-yard blast where the receiver got separation and had a perfectly placed ball just over his shoulder. The Warriors needed just three more plays, the last of which came 49 seconds into the second quarter in the form of a 10-yard rush from Podnar, followed by a connection with VanRaalte to push the lead to 16-0.

What BHW did not plan for was that being the start of a 30-6 sprint to the half in their favor, a run that largely sealed its win. The Warriors were effective in forcing turnovers on downs in the first half, a point of frustration for IG (2-3, 1-2 Six Rivers), that came to a head as a Cole Dunlavey sack on third-and-10 elicited a spiked ball after the play by the Panthers’ quarterback. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty resulted, with a pair of BHW touchdowns to one from the Panthers to the final whistle of the half showing a 38-12 lead on the scoreboard.

Both teams did the remainder of their damage over the third quarter, though the Warriors outscored their opponent by a tally of 24-8.

“I was really happy with the win, but there’s a number of things we need to continue to clean up,” BHW head coach Desmond Breadon said. “We let ourselves get overexcited, and it caused some mental errors and mistakes in the game. We had way too many penalties.”

Despite 12 penalties totalling 100 yards, the Warriors put up 108 yards and one score through the air, while compiling 419 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground. Podnar earned 98 yards and a touchdown through the air on 4 of 5 passing. All of his connections were with VanRaalte. The rushing game was led by Podnar as well on a 152-yard, four-score effort on 12 carries. BHW also got significant involvement by Woodruff (14 car, 128 yds, 3 TD’s) and Dax Paquin (12 car, 108 yds) on the ground.

Podnar’s efforts were not lost on the defensive front, either. He added one of the Warriors’ two interceptions with the other coming from Trent Bidlingmaier.

“I was happy with the continued improvement of our special teams, and the way a number of guys contributed to the game,” Breadon said. “We knew they had a dangerous passing game and I didn’t feel relaxed at any point in the game because of what they can do through the air. We need to keep improving and get ready for another tough one this week.”

There is no rest for BHW as it next collides with Wauzeka-Steuben/Seneca at 3 p.m. in Warren on Sept. 26. The fifth-ranked Hornets are 5-0 (3-0) following a 28-0 conference win over Pecatonica-Argyle (1-4, 1-2) on Sept. 19.