The Hatchet football team dropped a 39-14 game at Ladysmith on Friday, but the outcome was deceiving.
“If you look at the score you would think we were never in the football game,” THS coach John Larson said. “But right before halftime, with the score 19-7, we were driving inside their 10-yard line and failed to score. We missed a field goal, they got the ball at the 20 and a couple of big pass plays later they scored. Instead of a potential 19-10 or even 19-14 at the half it was 26-7. We did a lot of good things, but not enough to win the ball game.”
Ladysmith pushed it to 32-7 in the third quarter before Tomahawk cut it to 32-14 on a 5-yard Jared Hansen run. Andy Firkus intercepted a pass on the next Lumberjack drive, but a fumble handed it back just 12 yards from paydirt and Ladysmith made it count for the final score.
The THS boys trailed just 13-7 with 4:57 left in the second period after a 1-yard blast from Mitch McAllister capped an 80-yard push. First-quarter TD aerial strikes of 51 and 74 yards gave the Lumberjacks the early lead, and passes of 38 and 13 yards pushed it to 26-7 in the final 2:09 of the half.
Tomahawk did run up 225 rushing yards behind Hansen (12-78), Jake Swenty (12-75), Firkus (9-61) and McAllister (7-21). Firkus completed 5-12 passes for 58 led by Clay Borchardt (4-51).
“Our backs ran very well and our offensive line did a fine job on run blocking,” Larson said. “Probably the biggest disappointment was pass protection and the ability to get pressure on the quarterback. We’re a little light on cornerback right now, too, and may be for another game.”
The Hatchet defense held Ladysmith to 139 yards rushing, but were gashed by the passing of Eric Effortz (9-12, 264 yards, 4 TD) to Closs (3-122, 2 TD) and Saurer (5-111, 2 TD).