×

Klemp rushes for school-record 291 yards, Hawks roll

JEWELL – Logan Klemp has played at half speed, if even that, since he suffered a rib injury during Week 1 of the football season way back in late August.

He’s still not fully healed, but even at 85 percent he showed just how good he can be at Taylor Field Friday night.

Aided by an offensive line that continued to show growth, Klemp busted loose for a single-game school record 291 yards rushing and four touchdowns to power the Hawks to a convincing 48-18 beat down of Class 1A District 6 rival West Central Valley.

After an abysmal three week against the district leaders in which it was outscored 153-17, South Hamilton has now won two straight games and has plenty of momentum going into the final week of the regular season and the offseason.

“The kids really bought in and embraced that third season concept that we’ve talked about,” South Hamilton head coach Corey Klemp said. “We told our senior group coming out of that Madrid game (a 69-0 loss in Week 6), you can either have that be your legacy or you can lead us these last three weeks and spark the offseason.”

Having Logan Klemp in high spirits certainly helped against West Central Valley. He ripped off touchdown runs of 38, 20 and 60 yards in the first half, and South Hamilton (3-5, 3-3) went into the intermission in command, 41-6.

“This is the first week really since Week 1 where (Logan Klemp) didn’t go into the game in pain,” Corey Klemp said. “But I kind of told him that we’ve got two games left and it’s time to let it all go.

“The line has really grown throughout the year and has done an incredible job, too. We found the right kind of mix in the backfield as well with some power and some speed.”

South Hamilton pounded the ball down the Wildcats’ throats all night to the tune of a season-high 508 yards and it averaged 9.1 yards per carry.

Fullback Grant Evans ignited the rout with a 5-yard touchdown run just 3 minutes, 17 seconds into the contest and he finished with 95 yards on 15 carries.

Tanner Volkmann reached paydirt on a 11-yard run with 5:59 remaining in the second quarter, and Colton Coy found the end zone on a 10-yard scamper at the 2:07 mark of the period.

Volkmann contributed 65 yards on 11 totes and Coy picked up 67 yards on just six attempts.

Klemp got into the act one more time from 16 yards out with 8:24 remaining in the game.

West Central Valley (2-6, 1-5) notched a pair of late touchdowns against the Hawks’ second unit, one of them coming on a 72-yard scramble sprint by Brock Wolfe after the Wildcats had bungled a snap on what was supposed to be a punt.

Other than the long run, South Hamilton limited the Wildcats to 20 yards rushing out of their base sets. Quarterback Cody Hansen completed 9 of 21 passes for 145 yards, but he was intercepted twice by the Hawks’ Blake Barquist and Marco Balderas.

Mateo Balderas made a team-high 5 1/2 tackles for South Hamilton.

Barquist, the Hawks’ signal caller, connected on 3 of 5 passes for 45 yards].

South Hamilton will close out its season on Friday at Eagle Grove (2-6, 2-4) and the Hawks have an opportunity to put together a three-game winning streak for the first time since weeks 4, 5 and 6 of the 2013 season. Corey Klemp is hopeful his squad will but together another standout performance.

“The guys really played with some swagger that I hadn’t seen before (on Friday),” he said.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $3.46/week.

Subscribe Today