NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Hat High's Logan Wells eyes up the Catholic Central blocker as he runs for the Cougars endzone in the Hawks Friday night win. Hat High beat Catholic Central big, winning 58-0.
The Hat High Hawks had themselves a night on Friday, beating the Catholic Central Cougars 58-0.
Hat High scored early and led 34-0 after just the first quarter. Hawks head coach Quinn Skelton said he was happy with his teams game overall but that the first quarter really stood out.
“That first quarter, we just played hard. The kids came downhill on defence and ran the ball extremely hard between the tackles. I don’t think they had much of an answer for the ground game tonight and things just went our way,” Skelton said.
Catholic Central gave the Hawks a safety early as a result of a miscued snap.
Dylan Callan got Hat High their first of seven touchdowns on the night early in the first quarter. Zach Angstadt converted a two point conversion on Callan’s TD to put the Hawks up 10-0 in a hurry.
Callan said he was pretty happy with the win and is already looking forward to next weeks playoff matchup against McCoy.
“It’s a great thing to have, going off of a big win to go into next week when we start playoffs and we can have that big, confident win tonight to lead into next week,” Callan said.
Cole Ricken intercepted an errant Cougars throw and returned the ball for a pick six mid way through the first. Callan picked up his second touchdown of the game not long after to continue the Hawks first quarter march. It would be rounded out a rushing touchdown from Fillip Koprizza and a feild goal to end the Hawks 34-0 quarter.
They did not let up in the second as Tesema Veurink picked up another rushing touchdown for the Hawks who added another Cougars safety to carry a 43-0 lead into halftime.
Aayden Callan picked up where the Hawks left off at halftime with a kickoff returning touchdown on the opening drive of the third quarter.
Hat High would receive one point from a mishandled kick-off by the Cougars in their own end before Ryley Dyck added his own touchdown to give the Hawks their 58-0 lead that would be the final score.
Skelton said he was pleased with his teams win and has enjoyed playing exhibition games against Division I teams on top of their Rangeland league games.
“Working our way through these teams out of Lethbridge has been a lot of fun this season, gives us certainly a little different perspective and tonight was really a great night. Our kids played so well in that first half, I’m really pleased.”
The Hawks announced earlier in the year they would be among seven teams joining the Southern Alberta Division I league next season. As a result, they have been playing exhibition games between the seven teams while also playing in their current Rangeland league.
The Hawks finished their Rangeland season in first place and will host the McCoy Colts on Thursday for game one of the playoffs. Skelton says his team will have no problem getting up and ready for the playoff match.
“We know the playoff game will always be a tough, emotional battle. Looking forward to getting another run at McCoy and I’m sure likewise that they’ll be prepared for us,” he said.
Hat High will also hit the road next Saturday to take on Lethbridge Collegiate Institute for another exhibition game.
“The LCI game is something we’ve been looking forward to all year. But its also something for us to tune up for for provincials and LCI to do the same,” Skelton said.
