The Hatchet football team stepped up its defensive pressure when hosting perennial power Edgar on Friday night, but the Wildcats matched it straight up and efficiently scored enough for a 32-0 triumph.
Tomahawk held Edgar to just 204 total yards of offense, including 117 rushing and 87 passing. But Edgar more than returned favor by limiting the Hatchets to 56 passing and negative 18 rushing after 73 yards of losses wiped away 55 yards of positive gains.
“It was probably our best defensive effort of the year,” THS coach John Larson said. “We were physical. The bottom line is we had 11 players flying to the football and we played our responsibilities. Our efforts earned high praise from Edgar’s coach, Jerry Sinz.
“We continue to struggle mightily on offense. Our run game was non-existent and the passing game was very inconsistent. Edgar boasts the best defense in the conference, giving up just over 100 yards per game. But things don’t get any easier as Stanley-Boyd comes to town for Homecoming.”
Tomahawk trailed just 8-0 after a quarter on a 49-yard Blake Lehman dash and Nehemiah Werner 2-point run. A 37-yard Kaleb Wolf field goal and 4-yard Lucas Hannemann fumble return made it 18-0 at the half. But Edgar scored 14 in the third on a 34-yard pass from Connor Handrick to Mitch Boehm and a 1-yard Werner run to close it out.
Kaleb Kaminski completed 3-of-14 passes, for 56 yards with two interceptions, to Lorne Ahrens (1-33), Jordan Roessler (1-15) and Aaron Leonhard (1-8). Leonhard had 1 carry for 8 yards to lead the rushing. The defense was paced by: Ahrens (3 S, 2 A, 2 FR); Dane Borchardt (3 S, 5 A); John Rupel (7 A, 1 sa); Leonhard (6 A, 1 FC); Kaminski (1 S, 2 A, 2 PBU); Jake Borchardt (2 S, 4 A); and Jacob Schaper (1 S, 5 A).
Tomahawk fell to 1-6 in the Marawood, while Edgar, #4 in D6, bumped up to 6-1. Stanley-Boyd, #2 in D5, is 7-0.