Adam Clay
Hiawatha World

The season has come to an end for the Hiawatha Red Hawks, as the team traveled to Hayden High School in Topeka for a rematch in the opening round of the Kansas Class 3A State Football Tournament. Hayden had the upper hand the entire way in this one, cruising to the 56-6 victory.

The Cats drove down the field quickly on their first possession to take an early 7-0 lead, and Hiawatha was able to start a response by driving to near midfield, but ultimately fumbled the ball away on an errant pitch, with Hayden capitalizing in just a few plays to go up 15-0. A Red Hawk three and out gave the ball back to the Wildcats, who once again struck quickly to take a 21-0 advantage. A Bradyn Newell to Ethan Morton pass for a first down gave Hiawatha some juice, but Hayden was able to clamp down and force another punt, taking possession and draining the clock down, starting the second quarter deep in Hiawatha territory.

The second started no better than the first for the Red Hawks, as Hayden crashed in for a touchdown on the first play of the quarter, although Karson Henry was able to pick off the two point attempt. Next up featured an odd twist of three straight plays with turnovers, as the Hawks turned the ball over on downs, but got the ball back with a Michael Jensen interception for his for fourth of the season, before a stripped ball in the middle gave Hayden the ball inside the Hiawatha 10 yard line, where they would score on the very next play to go up 35-0. Ethan Morton and Ethyn Grant put together a nice series of runs that pushed inside Hayden territory, but an interception ended the drive moments later, starting another Wildcat possession that ended in a touchdown, as Hayden went up 42-0–the score that would stand up at the half.

Hiawatha opened the third quarter with the ball, and appeared to convert a fourth and one across the midfield mark, but an odd penalty for helping the runner set them back and forced a punt. Once again, the Wildcats drove the field to score a touchdown to go up 49-0. Ethyn Grant ripped off a pair of big runs to push the ball inside Hayden’s five yard line. Early in the fourth, Newell flipped a perfect pass to the back corner of the end zone to Henry as Hiawatha broke up the shutout and vindicated some of the success they had seen all game that seemed to always end up just short or one mistake away from continuing a nice drive. The Cats were able to add to their lead on the following possession, pushing the score to the 56-6 mark that would remain to the final buzzer.

Hiawatha’s 2-7 mark on the season was not what the team hoped for entering the season, but it was a year that every player on the team got their first State Tournament experience, and the final results did not reflect the positive direction that Coach Wyatt Jiru has the team heading.