It was a great day for Owen-Withee Athletics as Owen-Withee and the Meadowview Country Club hosted the Conference Cross Country meet on Saturday morning and immediately following that the Blackhawks hosted Almond-Bancroft in the Level I WIAA Play-off game at Blackhawk Stadium!

Defense and Special Teams were dominant for the Hawks as they coasted to a 38-0 win over the 6-2 Eagles from the Central Wisconsin 8 Conference. The Eagles won the toss and chose to receive looking to put pressure on the Hawks with their multiple set offense. What they weren’t ready for however, was the physicality and the constant pressure the Hawks defense would bring. That constant pressure by the defensive front three of Poehler, Wulff, and Wendler forced the Eagles QB to get rid of the football way sooner than he was hoping to, completing only 5 of 21 passes for 35 yards and three interceptions. To make matters worse for the visiting Eagles, they weren’t able to get anything going on the ground either as the Hawks limited them to just 45 yards on 19 carries. Combine that with some excellent Special Teams play, such as a blocked punt by Jack Wendler, some deep kick-offs by Winston Poehler, great kick coverage by Talon Mueller and Will Simenson, a recovered kick-off by Clay Mueller, and a safety recorded by the punt block team, the Hawks offense found itself on a short porch for the better part of the game.

With that short porch, the offense put up three scores in the first quarter on touchdown runs of four yards by Talon Mueller and a four-yard run by Clay Mueller. Isaiah Pyrchalla threaded the needle on an 18-yard touchdown pass to Winston Poehler to make the score 20-0 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was more of the same as Pyrchalla scored on a 25-yard counter play and Talon Mueller scored on a 2-yard plunge to make it 32-0 at the half!

The second half brought a little frustration to the Hawks offense as it struggled to put the final nail in the coffin until the fourth quarter when Mueller hit paydirt from two yards out to give the Hawks a 38-0 lead and a running clock. It was very satisfying to see the defense continue to play at a very high level completely taking the Eagles offense out of their game plan and the Hawks being able to pitch a shutout in a play-off game.

The Blackhawks will travel to Gilman to take on the Pirates in a Level II match-up at 7:00 Friday evening! It will be a great game as the two Conference foes are pitted against each other for the second time this season. Come out and see high school football at its best and be a part of the excitement it brings.