LAKE CITY – The size and skill, speed and power possessed by seventh-ranked South Central Calhoun overwhelmed South Hamilton here Friday night in a Class 1A District 7 battle.

But give the Hawks credit; they never gave up.

Still, the Titans’ talents were on full-display and they wrapped up the district title by blanking South Hamilton, 42-0.

South Central Calhoun scored five touchdowns in the first half to take a 35-0 lead at the intermission. It ran just one play in the third quarter, but it went for another TD.

“Their size is incredible. They’re just big and athletic,” South Hamilton head coach Corey Klemp said. “Their line play is great, too. They’re real physical up front, and then their skill guys have all got speed.

“But I was real impressed with how our kids competed. Clearly (SCC) was in another class, but our kids showed some growth in that they didn’t back down.”

SCC (7-1, 5-0) out-gained the Hawks 341-49 and limited the visitors to just nine yards rushing. The Titans sacked South Hamilton (1-6, 1-4) quarterback Blake Barquist eight times.

Fullback Logan Klemp accrued 37 yards on the ground and he also completed a pass to Jared Ullestad that covered 10 yards. Barquist made good on 6 of 13 passes, but the sacks resulted in 40 yards of loss.

“We just got overpowered a bit up front,” Corey Klemp said. “But it was good for our kids to see what that looks like and to see what they need to do in the weight room to get there.”

SCC went to the air for 211 yards. All-district quarterback Derrick Henkenius connected on 7 of 9 throws for 151 yards and three touchdowns. Perhaps adding a little insult to injury, the Titans ran a halfback pass up 35-0 and scored again on a 60-yard hook-up from Cyle King to Cody Case in the third quarter.

Corey Klemp says he wasn’t bothered by the exotic play.

“It didn’t come across bad or anything like that,” he said. “I think it had to do with having their seniors in there one last time … I thought they handled everything in the game well.”

Case found the end zone on the first play from scrimmage just 12 seconds into the game on a 65-yard pass from Henkenius to put the Titans in control almost immediately. Case also scored on a 22-yard toss form Henkenius late in the second quarter.

Henkenius found Carter Ludwig open on a 5-yard throw for his third touchdown with 1:32 remaining in the opening half.

Logan Fonken led the Titans on the ground with 63 yards on seven totes. He scored a pair of first-half touchdowns on runs of 8 and 11 yards.

King picked up 54 yards rushing.

Logan Klemp had a solid defensive performance with a game-high 10 1/2 tackles. Charlie Reiter made 5 1/2 stops, and Jake Hand and Colton Coy both had four.

South Hamilton will finish up its season at home on Friday against Fort Dodge St. Edmond. Already with a No. 1 seed for the postseason locked up, SCC will head to Ogden for a showdown with the Bulldogs.

Ogden (5-3, 4-1) and Manson-Northwest Webster (3-5, 3-2) have also secured playoff berths out of District 7. Madrid (6-2, 3-2) will clinch a spot in the postseason with a win over Manson-Northwest Webster in Week 9. St. Edmond (4-4, 2-3) can earn the No. 4 seed with a win and a Manson-Northwest Webster victory over Madrid.

St. Edmond owns the tiebreaker over Madrid courtesy of a 31-26 win when they met in Week 6.