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Cougars too physical for Hawks

MANSON – Winning in the trenches oftentimes leads to winning on the scoreboard.

It’s simple, really, If you can’t block, you can’t score. And if you can’t score, you can’t win.

That’s a football 101 lesson that was driven home to South Hamilton here Friday night, as the Hawks were out-muscled at the point of attack on both sides of the ball in a Class 1A District 7 loss to Manson-Northwest Webster, 42-7.

After spotting South Hamilton (0-3, 0-2) an early touchdown, the Cougars (2-2, 2-0) clamped down and reeled off 42 unanswered points over the final 42 minutes of play.

“I was really impressed with how physical (the Cougars) were and we just couldn’t match that,” South Hamilton head coach Corey Klemp said. “As the game wore on, they overpowered us up front.”

After limiting St. Edmond all-state running back T.J. O’Tool, the 2014 1A rushing king, to just 32 ground yards a week earlier, Manson-Northwest Webster shackled South Hamilton and allowed a measly 20 yards rushing on 32 attempts.

Hawks’ fullback Logan Klemp accrued 30 yards on 12 totes, but no other ball carrier netted more than two yards.

“It was kind of like what we saw on film against St. Edmond,” Corey Klemp said. “They stacked the box and we really couldn’t do much.”

South Hamilton quarterback Blake Barquist was forced to carry the bulk of the offensive burden and he continued to progress. His 40-yard connection with Colton Coy midway through the first quarter gave the Hawks the early 7-0 lead.

Barquist completed half of his 18 passes for 119 yards against two interceptions. Coy made five catches that covered 84 yards. Logan Klemp came up with three grabs for 32 yards.

“His confidence is growing immensely and that will help,” Corey Klemp said of Barquist. “That might be something we have to lean on until we get some growth and development to where we can run the ball.”

Manson-Northwest Webster churned out 281 yards on the ground and out-gained the Hawks 329-129.

Cougars’ running back Keaton Wood ripped off touchdown runs of 46, 63 and 15 yards on his way to a monstrous performance – 132 yards on just eight carries.

Mark Condon gave Manson-Northwest Webster the lead for good early in the second quarter on a 50-yard sprint, and he finished with 55 yards. Skyler Michalski added 72 yards on 15 carries.

Wood’s longest scoring jaunt made it 19-7 in the Cougars favor, and a 25-yard field goal by Clay Freimuth in the waning moments of the second quarter pushed the cushion to 22-7 at the half.

Freimuth added a 32-yard fumble return to the house late in the third quarter.

Manson-Northwest Webster averaged 6.5 yards per carry and four of its touchdowns came on scampers of 15 or more yards.

“We kind of held them in check except for a couple of big plays,” Corey Klemp said. “We would get some stops and then we would fall asleep and stop making our reads, and some that is a lack of varsity experience.”

Colton Griffin made 8 1/2 tackles in the loss. Luke Peters collected 6 1/2, and Grant Evans finished with six.

The difficult journey through the district slate continues on Friday when the Hawks make the drive to Ogden for a 7 p.m. kickoff. Despite the rough start to the season, Corey Klemp says his team remains upbeat.

“We do have 18 new starters and we’re playing some teams that are pretty decent,” he said. “This is something we have to work through and get better.”

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