Spoilers of Homecoming that is. The visiting Blackhawks rang up an impressive 55 points on the Twin Valley South Panthers on their homecoming night. Running back Alex Scholl did most of the damage – scoring five touchdowns. He had over 200-yards on the night. The Blackhawks took control of the game early and pretty much had their way offensively as they made a long bus ride home short with a 55-20 victory.
“Alex Scholl had another 200-plus yard night,” said Hawks coach Steven Trobridge. “This is his second game in a row where he carried for over 200. He and his cousin Blake Scholl both did well for us.”
The Blackhawks scored early and often. Cameron Shimp returned the opening kickoff to midfield where Scholl took advantage of the short field and ran 51-yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. That set the tone for the night as Mississinawa Valley had South on their heels from that point forward. South had a hard time answering as their offense sputtered and didn’t seem to be able to get into gear thanks to the solid tackling and secondary coverage of the defense.
The Blackhawks did allow South to score, but they held the Panthers most series to three plays and punt. They definitely won the turnover battle taking the ball away on both defense and special teams. Those extra possessions were turned into points. On a night that was all Blackhawks, the defense scored too when Blake Scholl scooped up a South fumble and rambled about 50-yards for a touchdown.
“We know that we are not big up front,” Trobridge noted. “We play a tough bend but do not break defense. We are low in numbers but we try to get everyone we can on the field to keep our players fresh. But the conditioning is on these players they work hard in practice and push themselves. They do everything we ask and they don’t complain. We don’t make excuses.”
One of the scores given up on special teams was a kickoff returned for a touchdown. After the game, Coach Trobridge took the blame on that one as he was trying to switch things up on the Panthers during that kick.
“This feels really good. Coming off of the Ansonia week it toughened us up and gave us a new attitude – it showed tonight. We played a very good Tri-Village team last week and it made us better. Tonight we put it all together with thanks to a solid running game. We can pass, but having that running game is great. The line did a good job of pushing them off the ball. This is what happens when we put it all together.”
Scoring Summary: Scholl 51-yard run. Zach Connor 28-yard TD catch from Cody Dirksen. Scholl 41-yard TD carry. Blake Scholl fumble recovery 50-yd TD. Scholl 1-yard TD run. Scholl 4-yard TD run. Blake Scholl 23-yard TD catch from Cody Dirksen. Scholl 41-yard TD run.
Turnovers: Pierce Daniels fumble recovery. Blake Scholl fumble recovery. Shimp interception. Davian Trump fumble recovery. Tackles: Max Dirmeyer 9; Josh Fett 5; Zack Connor & Trey Godfrey 4.
Next up for the 3-2 Blackhawks are the 4-1 National Trail Blazers.
“That is going to be a good one,” said Trobridge. “We are back home. We have only had one home game in these first five games. We look forward to playing with our home crowd. It will be a challenge for us, it will show us where we are at. We look forward to playing them, it should be a good game.”
