South Hamilton teammates Noah Gunderson and Teagan Trask celebrate a touchdown on Friday night against Roland-Story. (DFJ photo by Angela Hewitt)

STORY CITY — For the fourth consecutive time, the South Hamilton football team turned away Roland-Story.

This one, though, was as close as ever.

The Hawks received a touchdown from Tjerdan Johnson in overtime and got a stop on defense to secure a 34-28 victory in the season opener for both teams.

Johnson forced overtime when he hit Owen Renaud on a 43-yard touchdown strike on fourth-and-6 in the fourth quarter.

South Hamilton led 22-13 heading into the final 12 minutes before the Norsemen rallied, taking the lead on a Nick Butler TD run following a fumble recovery with nine minutes to go.

Noah Gunderson had a 66-yard touchdown run for South Hamilton to make it 22-7, while Landon Gruefe also found the end zone. Gunderson had the first Hawk score of the game, answering a 57-yard TD by Roland-Story’s Jonovan Wilkinson on the first play of the night.

Johnson completed 4 of 6 passes for 79 yards with the touchdown to Renaud. He also had 14 yards rushing and a score.

Nick Severseike, a sophomore, ran for 93 yards on 14 carries, while Gunderson had 78 and two TDs. Renaud caught two passes for 49 yards.

On defense, Carter Balvanz had a sack and Owen Duns recorded five tackles.

South Hamilton was playing without standout senior running back Landon Skartvedt, as he missed the game with an injury. Skartvedt ran for over 1,000 yards last season.

Up next for the Hawks will be Clarion-Goldfield/Dows, who is also coming off a win after topping Eagle Grove, 48-20.