SOUTH WAYNE — For the Black Hawk-Warren Warriors, Friday’s Division 7 Level 1 playoff game against River Ridge didn’t have to be pretty. It just had to be a win. Otherwise, there is no Level 2.
The No. 1 seed Warriors came away with an 8-6 win over the No. 8 seed Timberwolves on Friday, Oct. 24. Black Hawk-Warren won the Six Rivers Conference meeting between the two teams in overtime on Sept. 13, 30-22.
In the playoff game, all the scoring took place in the first quarter. Warriors quarterback Beau Podnar raced 87 yards for a touchdown with 3:01 left in the first period. The Warriors went for two and succeeded as Jacob Woodruff scored to make it 8-0. That proved to be the difference in the game.
On the ensuing kickoff, River Ridge’s Lane Copsey returned it 84 yards the other way for a touchdown. The Timberwolves tried to tie the game with a two-point conversion attempt, but came up short. The rest of the game was a defensive tug of war.
Woodruff rushed the ball 14 times for 113 yards. Podnar had 15 carries for 108 yards. Black Hawk-Warren had 233 yards rushing overall and 10 first downs. The Warriors defense held the Timberwolves to 108 total yards of offense.
Warriors coach Desmond Breadon couldn’t say enough about how his team’s defense shined.
“I was really happy with the way our defense played. To keep a team as good as Ridge to barely over 100 yards is impressive, and most of those yards came on the opening drive,” Breadon said.
Still, Breadon sees room where the Warriors need to improve to keep their season going.
“I was happy with the win, but not satisfied with how we played. Regardless of the score the only thing that matters is we went 1-0 last week. It doesn’t matter if we won by two points or 100,” Breadon said.
Black Hawk-Warren (10-0) advances to Level 2 where they will host fifth-seeded Cashton (7-3) on Friday, Oct. 31 at South Wayne. The winner will get either two-seed Johnson Creek (9-1) or three-seed Potosi-Cassville (9-1) in Level 3.
Belleville 42, Markesan 14
MARKESAN — The Belleville Wildcats know a thing or two about Cinderella seasons. Last year as a No. 8 seed, they reached the Division 6 state semifinals. This season, the Wildcats as a No. 7 seed opened the postseason with another upset win, knocking off No. 2 seed Markesan 42-14 on Friday, Oct. 24.
The Wildcats stunned the Hornets by taking a 28-0 halftime lead. Markesan pulled to within 28-14, but Belleville scored twice in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach. Rayden Taylor led the Wildcats in rushing with 124 yards and three touchdowns. Cooper Nemec caught four passes for 95 yards and a touchdown.
Belleville (6-5) advances to Level 2 and will make the 239 mile, nearly four hour trip to Crandon (6-4) to take on the No. 6 seed Cardinals on Friday Oct. 31. The winner will face a SWAL team no matter what — Darlington (11-0) or Fennimore (8-3).
