Fingers crossed
By DOUG OLESON
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sports@daily-chronicle.com
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| Hiawatha running back Angel Hernandez (11) slips through the North Shore Country Day defense during the first quarter of the Hawks’ 47-8 victory Friday night in Kirkland. Hernandez rushed for 159 yards and four touchdowns. (Beck Diefenbach – bdiefenbach@daily-chronicle.com) |
KIRKLAND – Sean Donnelly didn't know it was coming.
With 3:27 to play in Hiawatha's 47-8 win against North Shore Country Day on Friday night, members of the Hawks dumped a bucket of water on their coach.
"It was exciting," Donnelly said, as he stumbled for the right phrase to describe it, then grinned a little sheepishly. "Sorry, I don't have a better sound bite."
Considering the lopsided score, that was about the only stumble the Hawks had as they completely demolished NSCD on both sides of the ball.
Junior running back Angel Hernandez led the Hawks offensively, scoring four touchdowns and rushing for 159 yards, making him the first Hiawatha player to rush for 1,000 yards in one season since Robert Quimby's 1,116 in 1999.
"To get 1,000 yards and have a chance at the playoffs, there's no feeling like it," Hernandez said.
The win, their fourth in a row, gives the Hawks a 5-4 record, their first winning season in 22 years.
"This is the best feeling I've had in my whole life," senior quarterback Jason Keneway said.
"It's amazing," fellow senor Larry Walton agreed. "Since the sixth grade we've been working for this."
The big question now is: Will the Hawks have enough playoff points to get into the playoffs for the first time in more than two decades? An official announcement will be made by the IHSA at 7:30 p.m. today.
Donnelly said his gut feeling is that the Hawks will get in. Entering Friday night's game, he noted that his team was only three or four places behind the cutoff. WIth one school ahead of them, Chicago Hope Academy, announcing that it was dropping out of the playoffs because it didn't have enough players, it boosts Hiawatha's chances.
"We're hopeful," Donnelly said.
Hiawatha's winning season is even more remarkable considering it started 0-3, something the coach and players said didn't stop them.
"We didn't want to give up at 0-3," Hernandez said. "We just never stopped believing in ourselves."
"I had confidence the whole time," Keneway added. "We never lost sight of the goal."
"I never had a doubt that we'd go 5-4," Walton said.
The way Friday night's game started out, there was no doubt what the outcome was going to be. The Hawks scored touchdowns on their first five possessions, which all started inside their opponent's 50-yard line, including Hernandez's 20-yard TD run on the Hawks' second play of the game.
Other Hiawatha touchdowns were scored by Nick Parisot, on a 7-yard second-quarter run; Richard Shipley, on a 10-yard TD run; and a 35-yard interception for a TD by Carton Puckett.
It was one of three picks the Hawks had, the other two were by Walton and Joe Andujar.
Once again, the Hiawatha defense simply stopped the NSCD offense cold as its only touchdown came late in the fourth quarter with Hiawatha's second team in.
Hiawatha 47, North Shore Country Day 8
North Shore Country Day 0 0 0 8 - 8
Hiawatha 21 26 0 0 - 47
First quarter
Hiawatha: Hernandez, 20-yard TD run (Mlodzianowksi kick); 9:07
Hiawatha: Hernandez, 7-yard TD run (Mlodzianowski kick); 3:41
Hiawtha: Puckett, 35-yard int. for TD (Mlodzianowski kick); :39
Second quarter
Hiawatha: Parisot, 7-yard TD run (kick no good); 11:22
Hiawatha: Hernandez, 3-yard TD run (Mlodzianowski kick); 9:30
Hiawatha: Hernandez, 41-yard TD run (kick no good); 6:39
Hiawatha: Shipley, 10-yard TD run (Mlodzianowski kick); 1:53
Fourth quarter
NSCD: Kann, 1-yard TD run (Kann pass to Shafer); 4:59
STATISTICS
RUSHING: NSCD: Hunter, 6-31; Kann, 5-13; Deuble, 4-(-12); Okesanya, 6-5; total: 21-37. Hiawatha: Keneway, 1-13; Hernandez, 12-159; Andujar, 3-1; Parisot, 1-7; Shipley, 2-10; Ortman, 2-2; Quimby, 2-11; and Walton, 1-1; total: 25-184.
PASSING: NSCD: 6-15-1-3; 35 yards; Hiawtha, none
RECEIVING: NSCD. Shafer, 2-14; Gordon, 2-4; Bruce, 2-17. Hiawatha, none.
Total offense: NSCD: 72; Hiwatha, 184.
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