JEWELL – Michael Santi hasn’t just dominated opposing defenses through two weeks of the regular season. He’s embarrassed them.

Can he continue this ridiculous pace tonight when district play gets underway? Not if South Hamilton has anything to say about it.

Santi, Madrid’s junior standout running back, will be the focal point for the Hawks’ defense tonight when they tangle with the sixth-ranked Tigers in Class 1A District 7 action at Taylor Field. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

“He’s a nice runner. He’s very patient and when he finds that seam he definitely takes advantage of it,” South Hamilton head coach Corey Klemp said of Santi, who currently leads all classes in rushing yards with 567. “They’re a very good team. They’ve got size and they’ve got the speed that they typically have.”

Running out of the wishbone attack, Santi chewed up Van Meter for 392 yards and five touchdowns in Week 1, and followed it up with 175 yards and four more scores in a blowout of Woodward-Granger last week. He’s averaging an eye-popping 14.2 yards per carry.

“He’s got a lot of big runs,” Klemp said of Santi. “They don’t come out and try to trick you or surprise you. But they are masters of baiting you into biting on the wrong read, or if you get greedy they take advantage of it.”

The Hawks have already seen plenty of Santi. He piled up 215 yards and three touchdowns on the ground in Madrid’s 34-21 win last fall.

South Hamilton (0-1) must stay with its keys if it hopes to slow down Madrid (2-0), which tops 1A in rushing yards with 887. Quarterback Cade Kirkpatrick has thrown just nine passes, but he’s completed six of them for 133 yards and a TD.

“They’re not afraid to throw the ball either,” Klemp said. “They took a lot of deep shots against Woodward-Granger.”

South Hamilton’s best defense will be a methodical, chains-moving offense that will keep the ball out of Santi’s hands.

“Anytime you can stay on the offensive side of that ball, that’s always a positive,” Klemp said.

To do that, the Hawks will have to clean up the mistakes that hampered them in their season-opening loss to West Marshall, 15-13, last week. They had trouble running the ball inside the tackles, and penalties also played a part in the struggles.

With the return of wingback Jake Hand, who was injured against West Marshall and missed the second half, Logan Klemp will return to the fullback spot. He was the workhorse last Friday with 126 yards rushing and a TD on 31 carries. He lugged the ball 24 times in the first half alone.

Expect Madrid to flood the box and try to force South Hamilton to put the ball in the air. Hawks’ quarterback Blake Barquist attempted nine passes last week, but completed just two for nine yards.

Madrid, the clear frontrunner in District 7, is the overwhelming favorite tonight, but Corey Klemp says that may work to his team’s advantage.

“This is one of those weeks where we know going in we have nothing to lose, so we’re just going to let it hang,” he said. “But we’ll have our hands full … they’re the team we want to be in a couple of years.”