E-Hawks Struggle In Long, Tough Loss
September 23, 2014
, Emmetsburg News
INWOOD - Emmetsburg's meeting with West Lyon on Friday night featured some fireworks, courtesy of Mother Nature, that only lengthened the discomfort of the E-Hawks in a 35-7 loss to the Wildcats. A 30-minute lightning delay would only add insult to injury as the E-Hawks were held scoreless in the contest until ::25 remained in the contest. The loss evens Emmetsburg's record at 2-2 on the season.
Emmetsburg opened the game with Thomas Schultes returning the kickoff to the 17-yard line, which would be a harbinger of the night's game for the E-Hawks. The E-Hawks tried to establish their ground game right away, but West Lyon would shut down the run, forcing Emmetsburg to go three and out to end their first possession.
West Lyon took over at their own 49-yard line off the punt, and drove downfield to Emmetsburg's 26-yard stripe, but the E-Hawk defense came up with a stop on fourth and eight, getting the ball back with 6:45 to go in the opening quarter.
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E-Hawk quarterback Zach Anderson would try to drive the E-Hawks downfield and managed to get some nice runs from Jacob Kibbie and Greg Wesley along with tough yards from Thomas Schultes. Emmetsburg would get to their own 36 yard line, but the drive would stall, forcing another punt, which put West Lyon on their own 34.
It wouldn't take long before the Wildcats got a 59-yard run from Dylan Huyser for the opening touchdown with 2:57 to go in the quarter. The kick by Jaden Snyder gave the Wildcats a 7-0 lead as the E-Hawks knew they were in for a lengthy battle.
Emmetsburg would start at their 20 on a touchback, and would go three and out on the possession, but West Lyon would also go three and out, punting to put the E-Hawks at their own five-yard line to start the second quarter, trailing 7-0.
Emmetsburg would get a first down and began driving off some hard running from Jacob Kibbie. The E-Hawks would eat some clock and drove into West Lyon territory for the first time in the game, Emmetsburg would get to the Wildcats' 31-yard line but faced a fourth and 13 and elected to go for the first down, but turned the ball over on downs.
Starting at their own 31, West Lyon would mount a drive down field that was capped by a one-yard by Dylan Huyser with 4:35 to go in the half. The kick by Snyder made the score 14-0 as the E-Hawks were starting to look for some answers.
On the kickoff, the E-Hawks began at their own 29, but would go three and out for a punt that put the Wildcats at their own 44 yard line with 3:06 to go in the half.
West Lyon would try to drive, but ended up with a fourth and two at their own 48 and punted with 1:25 to go in the half. The E-hawks recovered and got a good return, only to be called for a block in the back on the return and penalized back to their 17-yard line. Emmetsburg would try to grind it out but the half ended with the E-Hawks trailing 14-0
The second half would be delayed a half-hour after lightning in clouds southwest of the field was seen by the game officials.
After the game resumed, the E-Hawks' kickoff would land out of bounds, giving West Lyon first down at their 35-yard line. The Wildcats quickly made good use of the field positions, and put together a quick scoring drive that ended off a 43-yard run by Chase Groenwold. The Snyder kick made the score 21-0 as the E-Hawks set up for another offensive series.
Starting at their own 23, the E-Hawks would once again go three and out, as poor field position would combined with a determined defense to stymie the Emmetsburg offense.
West Lyon would take over after the punt at the Emmetsburg 38 yard line after a short punt, and drove down field to score with 5:43 to go in the third frame off an eight-yard run by Vaughn Moser. The kick made the lead 28-0.
Starting on their own 20 after the kickoff, Emmetsburg would once again go three and out, giving West Lyon the ball at their 40, but on the possession, Emmetsburg was dealt a blow with an Unsportsmanlike Conduct Penalty, which gave West Lyon a First Down at the E-Hawk 31-yard line. The Wildcats would continue to drive downfield and held the28-0 lead as the third quarter ended.
Facing a third and four at the Emmetsburg 15-yard line, West Lyon would be stopped on two consecutive plays by the E-Hawk defense to get the ball back with 11:48 to go in the contest.
Starting at their own 17, the E-Hawks would get to their own 32 yard line, but were forced to punt again, giving West Lyon the ball at the E-Hawks' 41-yard line after the return.
But with 6:19 to go in the game, West Lyon would find the end zone again when Vaughan Moser raced in from 13 yards out for the score. The kick made the score 35-0, starting the continuous clock.
Emmetsburg would get the ball at their own 18 following the kick and with the clock winding down, the E-Hawks dug deep to find a way. Zach Anderson continued to drive the E-Hawks, taking the ball himself for a couple of nice runs, and keeping the drive alive with runs from Greg Wesley, Thomas Schultes and Jacob Kibbie.
Working down to the Wildcats' 10-yard line, Anderson would keep the ball and outrace the defense to score Emmetsburg's only touchdown with :21 to go in the contest. Thomas Schultes would add the conversion kick to avoid the shutout loss for the 35-7 final score.
It was a tough night for the E-Hawk offense, as it gained 206 yards rushing off 44 attempts, while West Lyon had 374 yard off 52 rushes. The E-Hawks attempted eight passes with no completions, while West Lyon had just one of six passes caught for 14 yards giving them a total offense of 388 to the E-Hawks' 206 yards.
For Emmetsburg, Jacob Kibbie rushed 13 times for 89 yards, while Thomas Schultes had 14 carries for 74 yards. Greg Wesley added nine rushes for 27 yards, with Zach Anderson carrying the ball six times for 21 yards. Wes Schultes added two rushes but lost two yards in the contest.
Wes Schultes would punt seven times in the contest for 220 yards, averaging 31.4 yards per punt.
Defensively, Emmetsburg got 19 tackles from Luke Jackson along with a fumble recovery, while Greg Wesley made 16 tackles for the E-Hawks. Wes Schultes added 14 stops, while Zach Anderson and Nick Chapman both made 12 tackles in the effort. Robert Nelson and Lane VerMulm would both make nine tackles.
We kicked their butt, they had no answer. More work to do though.
So, onto Western Christian. I thought they would be a contender for district this year. I know a couple Western folks who feel this is their year. They had some tough losses but handled Sibley. Seriously folks, this is a group who are throwing the ball all over, and we saw what CL did doing that to us. Let's keep getting better. GO BIG BLUE!!
