HAZEL GREEN — Black Hawk-Warren traveled to face Southwestern-East Dubuque on Friday, where the eighth-ranked Warriors came out on top 34-20.
BH-W (5-0, 3-0 Six Rivers) got the ball after a quick three-and-out on the opening drive that netted the Warcats (2-3, 0-3 Six Rivers) negative yards.
“It wasn’t the best looking game, but the important thing was we came out with a win,” Warriors head coach Desmond Breadon said. “SW-ED is a lot better team than their record, and we knew that going in.”
With just under two minutes knocked off the clock, BH-W had possession at the Warcats’ 48-yard line.
Owen Seffrood (19 att, 118 yds, 2 TDs) and Eli Schliem (17 att, 71 yds, 1 TD) started with strong, 5- and-15-yard rushes that were just a sample of the monster 235-yard rushing day the Warriors embarked on.
The eight-play, 4:25 drive was almost entirely run in a 32-personnel package.
A few motions for Riley Mosley to line up as a weak side tight end stacked the BH-W’s side of the line during their rushing-exclusive drive, which didn’t lose a single yard with the lone exception being a false start penalty.
Capping off the 48-yard drive was a 2-yard rush from Lane Marty (14 att, 55 yds, 1 TD) that put the Warriors on the board, and a 2-point rush attempt by Seffrood gave them the lead, 8-0.
Just as with its previous four games, passing wasn’t a priority for BH-W, whose season high for attempts was 14 against Fennimore.
Last Friday, Schliem attempted just half of that, tallying three completions for 44 yards and two interceptions.
The Warriors kept SW-ED scoreless through two possessions, and BH-W turned its second chance on offense into more points.
The Warriors got the ball back less than two minutes later and rushed for a majority of their 70-yard drive. The possession took six minutes off the clock and brought the game into the second quarter.
Seffrood brought the drive to a head with a 3-yard rush, where he trucked through a defender for a BH-W touchdown.
Marty was stuffed on the 2-point attempt, keeping the lead to 14-0.
The rest of the second quarter featured a Warcat squad that was looking for redemption, as they tallied a trio of scores — two 40-or-more-yard bombs through the air, and one short rush — to carry a six-point, 20-14, lead going into the half.
“We started off good in the first quarter and then they took it to us in the second quarter,” Breadon said.
The third quarter was a return to form for the Warriors, where Schliem became the third different BH-W player to get a rushing score. His 8-yard rush was the only score of the third quarter.
Almost 12 minutes later, the Warriors found the end zone again in what was the final lead change of the night.
Seffrood turned a pedestrian 3- to 4-yard rush into a touchdown. He found an open hole in the weak side of the line, quickly spun out of a near tackle, made another defender miss, and rushed the width of the field en route to a 20-yard touchdown with 10 minutes on the clock.
BH-W sat with a 26-20 lead for the next nine and a half minutes of play, forcing a punt and a turnover on downs from SW-ED over that span.
The Warcats got the ball back after a turnover on downs with just under 1:50 to play, needing 53 yards for a touchdown.
The first play was an 18-yard pass broken up by Schliem that brought the clock to 1:43.
Mosley and Brady Stietz gave up minimal yardage on a rush, leaving the SW-ED at third-and-9.
The Warcats finally got the chains moving with a 10-yard pass. The clock ticked past 52 seconds when the ball was snapped for the fourth play of the drive.
The Warriors brought a blitz, forcing SW-ED’s quarterback to scramble. In the chaos, he missed a short pass that sailed into Seffrood’s arms.
He bolted with the interception and wasn’t touched, as he raced for a 53-yard touchdown.
The Warcats got the ball back and were able to run one play, but after a short gain, the clock ran out before they could run another play, giving BH-W the win, 32-20.
“Luckily, we came out with enthusiasm in the third and turned the game around,” Breadon said. “We played much better defensively in the second half.”
The Warriors will host River Ridge at 7 p.m. on Friday.
The Timberwolves are 4-1 (2-1 Six Rivers) following a 48-12 win over Pecatonica-Argyle last week.
“I was happy with the win, but reminded our guys that we can’t let up or let our technique get sloppy, because it will look exactly like it did in the second quarter,” Breadon said. “We overcame adversity tonight and became a better team because of it.”
