Hawks held scoreless in 2nd half

A stout Menasha defense forced five punts and one interception in the second half, keeping host Shawano out of the red zone on six straight drives in a 49-21 win Friday.

The Hawks (1-1, 0-1 Bay Conference) fell behind by 14 in the first quarter, then kept pace with Menasha (2-0, 2-0 Bay) but could never get closer than 7 points in the opening half. The Bluejays put the game away in the second half, outscoring Shawano 21-0.

The Shawano offense was led early by passes from Daniel Hanauer to Dylan Sumnicht. Hanauer threw for 170 yards and one interception in the game, while Sumnicht finished with 139 receiving yards.

Connor Klish opened up the scoring for the Hawks with an 18-yard run in the first quarter and added a 38-yard scoring run in the second. He finished with 63 yards.

The Hawks’ capped an 80-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run by Brayden Dickelman with 29 seconds remaining in the first half to make the score 28-21 at the break.

A pair of Hanauer-to-Sumnicht connections failed to spark the Hawks’ offense in the third quarter, however, when Shawano’s three drives all resulted in punts.

Tyler Szews rushed for 377 yards and tallied five touchdowns, including three in the second half, to lead Menasha.

Menasha quarterback Alex Zeinert tallied 87 yards passing, threw for one TD and ran 68 yards for another.

Menasha 49, Shawano 21

Team 1 2 3 4 F

Menasha 21 7 14 7 49

Shawano 7 14 0 0 21

Scoring Summary:

First quarter

M: Lasia Moua 52-yard reception from Alex Zeinart (PAT good) 7-0 (12:48)

M: Tyler Szews 8-yard run (PAT good) 14-0 (5:26)

S: Connor Klish 18-yard run (PAT good) 14-7 (0:40)

M: Szews 37-yard run (PAT good) 21-7 (0:04)

Second quarter

S: Klish 38-yard run (PAT good) 21-14 (10:27)

M: Zeinert 68-yard run (PAT good) 28-14 (9:19)

S: Brayden Dickelman 3-yard run (PAT good) 28-21 (0:29)

Third quarter

M: Szews 1-yard run (PAT good) 35-21 (10:42)

M: Szews 4-yard run (PAT good) 42-21 (0:48)

Fourth quarter

M: Szews 6-yard run (PAT good) 49-21 (7:13)