Hawks’ homecoming comeback falls short

Leading by 28 points at halftime, the Xavier football team looked to be on its way to a convincing Bay Conference win over Shawano. The hosts had other plans though.

Shawano scored 21 unanswered points to open the second half and cut its deficit down to seven before Xavier took advantage of a Shawano turnover and scored to up its lead to 13. Another late turnover sealed a 41-28 win for Xavier on homecoming Saturday in Shawano.

Trailing 35-7, Shawano attempted and recovered an onside kick to open the second half. The duo of sophomore Gage Timm and senior Crede Timm led the hosts down the field on the ground before Crede Timm recovered a fumble in the end zone.

“I think it was what the coaches said at halftime, it kind of lit a fire under us,” Crede Timm said of the team’s play in the second half. “We understood the message that we needed to fight back and not let teams roll over us like it’s going to be an easy win.”

“We never got down on ourselves after that first half,” senior Nick Grignon said. “We knew we could come back and compete because we gave Xavier a lot of plays that they shouldn’t have got and it was our mistakes. We fixed those in the second half and that’s what the scoreboard showed.”

Shawano’s defense forced a punt on the next drive, but a holding penalty forced the hosts to start the drive at their own 7-yard line. Behind the strong rushing attack of junior Brayden Dickelman, Gage Timm and Crede Timm, Shawano moved the ball down the field.

Facing a tough fourth-and-6, Gage Timm connected with freshman Elliott Lowney for a 12-yard score to bring the hosts within 14. Shawano then forced a punt but failed a fourth down conversion to give the ball back to Xavier.

Again, Shawano’s defense prevailed, forcing an incompletion on fourth down.

“At halftime, we talked about how the offense was putting the defense in tough spots, making them defend short fields,” Shawano coach Alan Tomow said. “We knew we were going to defend a couple things differently and make Xavier a little uncomfortable going to their next options. Our defense had them reeling by making one stop, one play at a time.”

After converting a pair of third downs, Gage Timm hit Crede Timm on a wild 44-yard passing play to send the crowd into a frenzy and bring the hosts within seven.

Shawano’s defense forced Xavier to punt, but on its next drive Shawano fumbled the ball. On the ensuing possession, Xavier ran a trick play on third-and-5 and turned it into a 15-yard touchdown.

The host’s offense put together another good drive, with Gage Timm hitting Dickelman and Lowney on long pass plays before a tipped ball in the end zone turned into an interception and ended the thought of a comeback.

“I’m really proud of the guys and how we played that second half,” Tomow said. “They could have rolled over and got the running clock going and got out of there a little earlier but our guys weren’t ready to give up. It’s huge for our team, for all those young guys to show that fight this late in the season when things aren’t going their way.”

“I think we are finally realizing what we are all capable of and that we can pretty much play with any team in this conference,” Crede Timm said. “We are all fully capable of playing at a high level but we just have to come out at the start (of the game).”

The first half was one to forget for the hosts. After Shawano punted on the opening possession of the contest, Xavier put together a long scoring drive to take the lead. Xavier then recovered a fumble on a short kickoff and scored on the next play to make it 14-0.

Xavier forced another fumble near the end of the first quarter and scored on the first play of the second quarter. Those three scores all came within a 2 minute, 41 second window.

Shawano cut into the deficit when Gage Timm hit Crede Timm for a 26-yard passing score and then forced a Xavier punt. But another turnover gave the visitors great field possession and they scored on the next play. Xavier added its fifth first half touchdown with under a minute to go in the half.

Shawano is now 0-7 overall and 0-6 in conference play. The team will travel to take on winless Green Bay West next Friday.

Xavier 14 21 0 6

Shawano 0 7 14 7

First quarter

X: Chris VandenHeuvel 1-yard run (Sam Kiesner kick), 2:30

X: Cal Mares 39-yard pass from Ray Zuleger (Kiesner kick), 2:16

Second quarter

X: VandenHeuvel 35-yard pass from TJ Van Eperen (Kiesner kick), 11:49

S: Crede Timm 26-yard pass from Gage Timm (Hunter Calkins kick), 9:27

X: VandenHeuvel 7-yard run (Kiesner kick), 7:50

X: Nick Otto 19-yard pass from Zuleger (Kiesner kick), 49.4

Third quarter

S: C. Timm fumble recovery in end zone (Calkins kick), 10:23

S: Elliott Lowney 12-yard pass from G. Timm (Calkins kick), 3:11

Fourth quarter

S: C. Timm 44-yard pass from G. Timm (Calkins kick), 7:28

X: VandenHeuvel 15-yard pass from Van Eperen, kick failed), 2:06