HAWLEY USES BIG SECOND HALF TO DEFEAT CROOKSTON PIRATE FOOTBALL

The Hawley Nuggets used a strong second half to pull away from the Crookston Pirates in a 41-18 win on a beautiful Friday night in Crookston. The first half saw three lead changes before the Nuggets scored 34 unanswered points on their way to the win.

FIRST HALF-
Crookston received the opening kickoff and was forced into a quick three and out and after a 14-yard return on a 33-yard punt from Brooks Butt, Hawley would take over on their own 30.
Hawley ran six plays and on the seventh play, Crookston’s George Widman read a pass and jumped in front of a Hawley receiver to intercept a Nuggets pass and took it 57-yards for a touchdown giving the Pirates their first points of the year. The two-point conversion would fail to give the Pirates a 6-0 lead with 5:48 remaining in the opening quarter. “What a play by George,” said Crookston Coach Nate Lubarski. “He read it well and made a couple of cuts and was able to get into the endzone.  It was so nice to see the excitement from the guys because we hadn’t been all season long.  But we quickly learned we needed to temper our excitement a little bit.”
The Nuggets didn’t take long to respond, as on the ensuing kickoff Samuel Burkel returned the kick 75 yards for a touchdown, just 12 seconds after Crookston scored. Burkel kicked the extra point giving Hawley the 7-6 lead with 5:36 left in the quarter.
Crookston answered would put together their best drive of the season on their next possession. The Pirates worked the ball into Nuggets territory and would go for it on a fourth down and three. Jack Doda would keep it on a quarterback bootleg and scamper around the left side for a five-yard run giving the Pirates a first down at the end of the quarter on the Nuggets 31.  The drive continued into the second quarter and Doda would lob a pass to Cade Deleon on a third down and 14 play to gain 20 yards, keeping the drive alive as the Pirates worked the ball into the Red Zone on the Nuggets 14. After a loss of four yards on first down, Doda threw a strike to Ethan Boll in the corner of the endzone for an 18-yard touchdown giving the Pirates the lead. The two-point conversion would fail giving Crookston a 12-7 lead with 10:30 remaining in the half. The Pirate drive was 15 plays for 70 yards while chewing up seven minutes. “We were really, really happy with the way we were grinding it out on the drive,” said Coach Lubarski. “Jack used the play-action very well and got out of the pocket and one thing that is crazy is that he is a right-handed quarterback and throws well running to his left.  We are taking baby steps with a young team and they were playing well.”
The Pirate defense got a stop on Hawley’s next possession, forcing the Nuggets to punt, and the Nuggets defense answered right back pushing the Pirates backward and forcing them to give the ball back. A 25-yard punt would give the Nuggets the ball on their own 33 with 5:29 remaining in the half. Hawley would take the lead after back-to-back big plays. First, Hayden Grani found Joey Aaker on a 32-yard pass deep into Pirates territory, and on the next play John Vetter took a handoff 15 yards for the score. The extra point would be successful giving the Nuggets a 14-12 lead with 3:06 remaining and that is how the half would end.  “We were just a little off in the first half.  It was our worst half of football this year,” said Hawley Coach Peder Naatz. “We took two busses and one was 30-minutes late and we told the guys at halftime that they have to quit bitching at each other and they need to play together.  And with all that, playing poorly and still having a lead was good.”
Crookston gained 83 Total Yards of offense while Hawley gained 71.  “Going into halftime and we are in the game and put a nice drive together, the coaching staff was happy,” said Pirate Coach Lubarski. 

THIRD-QUARTER-
Hawley started the second half with the ball and came out strong and never looked back.  On the first offensive play of the half, Vetter took a handoff 36 yards into Pirate territory just inside the 35. A few plays later Samuel Burkel broke a 24-yard run for his second touchdown of the night, extending the Nuggets lead 20-12. The drive went six plays spanning 69 yards all on the ground. The extra point missed wide left keeping the game a one-possession score with 9:37 left in the third quarter. Crookston’s opening drive of the second half stalled, and after a nice punt return from Carter Haugen the Nuggets took over at midfield. After successfully running for a few first downs, Hayden Grani rolled out on a play-action and found his tight end Ethan Magnusson downfield for a 20-yard touchdown pass that extended the lead to 27-12 after a successful extra point with 3:41 remaining in the third quarter. “Hawley is a good strong team and they started leaning on us a bit and we got wore down,” said Coach Lubarksi. “We are a young team and the snaps they are getting now is adding to their experience.”
Crookston quarterback Jack Doda was injured earlier in the quarter, and on the Pirate’s first play with him on the sidelines, Hawley would force a turnover on a muffed snap that Wyatt Dunham fell on for the Nuggets. Hawley took advantage of the good field position scoring their third of the quarter on a Hayden Grani one-yard run. Samuel Burkel added the extra point, as Hawley outscored the Pirates 20-0 in the third quarter to take a 34-12 lead into the final 12 minutes of play.

FOURTH-QUARTER-
Crookston would throw another interception for their third turnover of the game, as Bryant Carlisle ran down a pass from the Pirates giving the Nuggets the football back on their 40 with 10:52 remaining in the game. Hawley continued to control the line of scrimmage and for the fourth straight drive found the end zone on a five-yard Lucas Schenck touchdown run with 6:38 remaining. Samuel Burkel added the extra point making it 41-12 Nuggets.
Ethan Boll had his biggest run of the season on the Pirate’s ensuing drive as he bolted down the Pirates sideline for a 36-yard gain. That would set up the Pirate’s second offensive touchdown of the night, as Jake Erickson rolled out and found Cade DeLeon for a six-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion would fail to make it 41-18 Hawley with 2:58 remaining in the game. “Jake literally got thrown into the fire.  He hadn’t played any quarterback all camp until this week,” said Coach Lubarski. “He has played the position in 7th and 8th grade and we need to work on ball security, but he is a good athlete and he showed some great poise for us.  It was nice to get Cade a touchdown because he has worked really hard.”  Hawley would gain a first down and run the rest of time off to secure a 41-18 victory. 

Crookston falls to 0-3 with the loss and will look for their first win of the season next week as they host Frazee on Homecoming on September 24. Kickoff is set for 6:00 p.m.  “We hadn’t scored yet this season and then scored three times tonight and that was a positive,” said Coach Lubarksi.
Hawley moves to 2-1 on the season with the win.

1st Quarter
5:48 – Crookston – George Widman 57-Yard Interception Return (run failed)
5:36 – Hawley – Samuel Burkel 75-Yard Kick Return (Samuel Burkel kick)

2nd Quarter
10:30 – Crookston – Jack Doda 18-yard pass to Ethan Boll (run failed)
3:06 – Hawley – John Vetter 15-yard run (Samuel Burkel kick)

3rd Quarter
9:37 – Hawley – Samuel Burkel 24-yard run (kick failed)
3:41 – Hawley – Hayden Grani 20-yard pass to Ethan Magnusson  (Samuel Burkel kick)
0:12 – Hawley – Hayden Grani 1-yard run (Samuel Burkel kick)

4th Quarter
6:38 – Hawley – Lucas Schenck 5-yard run (Samuel Burkel kick)
2:58 – Crookston – Jake Erickson 6-yard pass to Cade DeLeon (pass failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATS

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