With a lot riding on the outcome of the game, the Owen-Withee Blackhawks and the Gilman Pirates squared off in a CWC-East heavyweight showdown. For the Blackhawks a win would give them sole possession of the Conference Championship, a perfect 8-0 regular season, and a number one seeding in the WIAA Playoffs. For Gilman, a win would give them a share of the Conference Championship and a spot in the WIAA playoff – a loss would bring their season to an end.

The game started out a little slow for both clubs as defenses were able to make plays and force a punt. It was the first play of the second quarter when Owen-Withee’s Sully Poehler found paydirt from one-yard out to cap off a 14 play drive giving the Hawks an 8-0 lead after the Poehler two point conversion. Gilman answered the Blackhawk score when their fullback crashed in from five yards out knotting the score at 8 apiece. Following Gilman’s kick-off, quarterback Dominic Sherwood burst up the middle on a 71 yard touchdown run giving the Hawks a 16-8 advantage after the Poehler two-point conversion. The Pirates wasted little time answering that score when they broke off a 52 yard run of their own to knot the score at 16-16. Once again, the Blackhawks were not to be outdone as they notched their third score of the quarter when Sherwood took it around end for an 8-yard score right before the half ended giving the Hawks a 24-16 advantage at the intermission.

It was evident that both teams had made halftime adjustments as neither team was able to put together a sustained drive. The Hawks offense came up short on two different 4-down conversion attempts and thank goodness the Blackhawk defense came up big with interceptions from Colin Fritz and Tim Stock. Yards were tough to come by and points even tougher until the 4th quarter when Gilman’s quarterback dropped a perfect pass into the arms of the running back streaking down the sideline making it a 24-22 game with the 2-point conversion to come. That’s when safety Dominic Sherwood came blitzing through to stop Gilman’s quarterback in his tracks and denying them the tie game.

The Blackhawks offense needed a huge drive to run out the clock and put the game away. After a couple of first downs and the clock winding down, the Pirates were putting eight men in the box trying to force a Blackhawk punt or turn it over on downs. That’s when Dominic Sherwood found Tim Stock on a well executed boot pass for 29 yards and a first down on the Pirates one yard line. A score and point after conversion iced the game for the Hawks.  That’s when the unexpected happened. On the quarterback sneak the ball squirts out and the next thing you see is a Gilman Pirate scooping it up and racing in the other direction for what appeared could be a 99 yard fumble recovery for a game winning score! But, that’s when the play of the game happened for the Blackhawks. Mason Gay came racing from the other side of the field and made the Gilman Pirate defender change directions twice giving Tim Stock, who was also in pursuit the opportunity to make a shoestring tackle on the Blackhawk 30 yard line. It was the hustle of those two players and never give up attitude that gave the Hawks an opportunity for a defensive stand with just under a minute to play. A nice counter trey play was called back on a holding call making it second and long with time running out. Once again, a big pass rush by Winston Poehler forced an errant pass and Dominic Sherwood picked it off to seal the deal for the Hawks capping off an undefeated season and sole-possession of the Conference Championship.

The Blackhawks will host Port Edwards in Level 1 of the WIAA football playoffs. Kick-off is at 7:00 p.m. this Friday evening. Come out and see High School football at its best!