PLUG AND PLAY HAWKS RUSH FOR 389 YARDS, THUMP NORSE
Skartvedt rushes for 225 yards, 2 TDs; SH pushes regular season win streak to 11
JEWELL — The personnel may change, but the expectations remain the same. That’s the culture that South Hamilton head football coach Corey Klemp has built and his players have taken his credo to heart.
The Hawks simply plug and play.
With 10 new starters on the offensive side of the ball, including an entirely new backfield, South Hamilton didn’t miss a beat in its season opener at Taylor Field Friday night. Behind a mammoth performance from junior halfback Landen Skartvedt, the Hawks rushed for 389 yards and continued their ownership of rival Roland-Story with a 48-20 rout.
Were there mistakes? Sure. And were their standout individual performances? Again, sure. But Klemp was most impressed with how his inexperienced bunch stepped into the spotlight and never blinked.
Not once.
“The biggest thing I saw is that the culture is there and as strong as ever,” Klemp said. “That was on full display. The leadership out of our older guys was tremendous and I thought the kids played with a ton of emotion and just went hard all of the time. I was super impressed with our kids in that sense.”
South Hamilton (1-0) ran its regular season win streak to 11 straight games and it’s 14-1 over the last 15 non-postseason outings. It was also the third straight win and sixth in the last seven confrontations against Roland-Story.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Norsemen (0-1) lost their 16th consecutive contest. They haven’t won since Week 1 of the 2019 season.
Skartvedt gouged Roland-Story for a career-high 225 yards rushing on 18 touches and he delivered a pair of early haymakers with touchdown runs of 23 and 39 yards to stake the Hawks to a 16-0 lead before the game was even seven minutes old.
He was quick. He was powerful. And he overwhelmed the Norsemen.
Not bad for a first act as a starter.
“He’s a kid that shows incredible athleticism,” Klemp said of Skartvedt. “Friday night it was time for Landen to step up and he certainly did, and I thought all of our backs ran really well. Then couple that with the guys up front doing an incredible job because they really opened things up nicely.”
South Hamilton used eight different ball carriers to pile up 23 first downs and own a sizable time of possession advantage. And the Hawks were without Austin Busch, the expected senior workhorse at fullback, due to injury. Blake Harris and Gavin Swenson split time at the front of the wishbone and combined for three touchdown runs.
Tycin Barkema lugged the ball 13 times for 73 yards at the other halfback position, and Prestin Van De Pol added a second-half touchdown run out of the backfield.
A 5-yard plunge into the end zone by Harris in the final minute of the first quarter staked South Hamilton to a 22-0 lead. The Hawks led 30-14 at the half following a Swenson 1-yard score in the second quarter, and they put the game away with 10 more points in the third on Van De Pol’s 5-yard score and a safety.
“With Austin out and (offensive lineman) Landon Stolee out, we truly started 10 of 11 new guys (on offense),” Klemp said. “I know there were some younger guys that had some nerves, but they were so confident in the preparation that they put in and just hungry to play football. That really counter-balanced the inexperience in my mind.”
Skartvedt and Swenson added interceptions on defense, as Roland-Story was forced to go to the air to try to catch up. Norsemen quarterback Quin Ante completed 14 of 27 passes for 238 yards and tossed a pair of touchdown passes — 54 yards to Will Bunn and 8 yards to Kale Lande. Ante also rushed for a score on a 2-yard run.
South Hamilton limited the Norsemen to 29 yards on the ground, and Carter Balvanz and Jack Moline both sacked Ante.
“That’s more yards than we want to give up (passing), but a couple of those were on bigger plays and another was on a broken play,” Klemp said. “For a new secondary, it was a valuable game for them. We really saw a lot of things in Week 1 that are going to have them ready for the rest of the year.”
Skartvedt made a team-high six tackles and Elijah Balderas collected 31⁄2 more.
South Hamilton will head to Eldora on Friday to take on South Hardin (0-1) at 7 p.m. The Tigers dropped a 35-7 decision to Class A state-title favorite Grundy Center on Friday.
S. Hamilton 48, Roland-Story 20
Friday at Jewell
Rol-Story 0 14 0 6 — 20
S. Hamilton 22 8 10 8 — 48
First Quarter
SH — Landen Skartvedt 23 run (run failed), 7:24.
SH — Skartvedt 39 run (Tjerdan Johnson run), 5:07.
SH — Blake Harris 5 run (Elijah Balderas run), 0:20.
Second Quarter
RS — Will Bunn 54 pass from Quin Ante (kick failed), 10:56.
SH — Gavin Swenson 1 run (Balderas run), 3:28.
RS — Ante 2 run (Bunn pass from Ante), 1:39.
Third Quarter
SH — Preston Van De Pol 5 run (Van De Pol run), 6:05.
SH — Safety, 2:39.
Fourth Quarter
SH — Harris 1 run (Balderas run), 8:12.
RS — Kale Lande 8 pass from Ante (pass failed), 4:06.
Individual Statistics
Rushing — RS: Jonovan Wilkinson 8-49, Nick Butler 2-9, Dillon Lettow 1-3, Quin Ante 6-(-8). SH: Landen Skartvedt 18-225, Tycin Barkema 13-73, Blake Harris 12-36, Gavin Swenson 6-21, Noah Gunderson 2-15, Prestin Van De Pol 2-15, Tjerdan Johnson 2-3, Elijah Balderas 1-1.
Passing — RS: Ante 14-27-2-2 238. SH: T. Johnson 0-1-0-1 0.
Receiving — RS: Will Bunn 3-109, Luke Patton 2-35, Kale Lande 4-29, Wilkinson 2-29, Gavin Carpenter 1-21, Isaiah Naylor 1-10, Carter Flattebo 1-5.
Tackles — SH: Skartvedt 6, Balderas 31⁄2, Van De Pol 3, Swenson 21⁄2, Harris 21⁄2, Carter Balvanz 21⁄2, Gatlin Johnson 2, Tucker Clabaugh 2, Jack Moline 2, Barkema 1, Teagan Trask 1, Landon Greufe 1, Brent Greenfield 1, Nic Flaugh 1, Gunderson 1⁄2, Carter Stolee 1⁄2.