Hawks fall in regular season finale

The Shawano Community High School football team reached for every trick in the playbook to try to spoil Bay Conference foe Denmark’s playoff bid.

Despite some highlight plays, Shawano lost 48-21, wrapping up conference play 2-6, 3-6 overall.

“The kids played hard,” Shawano coach Al Tomow said. “The effort is never questioned. It’s just the same things that hurt us all year: a missed assignment here, being out of position on another play. Those things start to snowball.”

After giving up a 66-yard touchdown to quarterback Jonathan Deprey, Shawano appeared to stall on the ensuing drive. Punter Zack Sousek, a 5-foot-10 senior triple threat, had other plans. Running straight up the middle on a fourth-down fake punt, Sousek ended up in the end zone 65 yards later.

Denmark (5-4, 4-4 Bay) took back the lead on the ensuing drive with a 13-yard pass from Deprey to Klein Vogel.

Shawano sophomore quarterback Jack Hanauer (6-0, 160) found junior receiver Adam Bartz (6-1, 175) for a 24-yard touchdown to open the second quarter. A missed extra-point try left the Vikings with a 14-13 lead.

From there Denmark pulled away. Deprey pulled off a fake punt conversion of his own, then hit Marcus Pribyl for a 24-yard touchdown to go ahead 21-13.

After a Hanauer interception, Deprey ran 43-yards for another score, and the Vikings were up 27-13.

Shawano almost scored before halftime, busting out a hook-and-ladder play on pass from Hanauer to Bartz, who pitched it to Sousek, who made it to the 10-yard line before being pushed out of bounds as time expired.

“We wanted the kids to have fun,” Tomow said. “We had some gadget plays in all year and never really had the chance to run them. We had a fake punt option on every punt. We ran the hook-and-ladder before halftime, which if they don’t put a third safety back, we might take it to the house.”

Deprey and Matt VandenHeuvel added a pair of rushing touchdowns in the third quarter.

Late in the third quarter, after recovering a fumble in Denmark territory, a pass interference call set the Hawks up at the Denmark 5-yard line, but a fumble on an outside run was scooped up by Denmark’s Noah Brunner, who returned it for a 95-yard touchdown.

In the fourth quarter, Hanauer connected with Sousek on a 44-yard touchdown, and the Hawks made the 2-point conversion on a direct snap to Cole Huntington, who ran it in and cut Denmark’s lead to 48-21.

Sousek had two catches for 60 yards and a touchdown. He rushed four times for 69 yards and a touchdown. Hanauer was 7 of 13 for 144 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Bartz finished with four catches for 56 yards.

Deprey had nine rushes for 139 yards and three touchdowns. He was 2 for 4 passing for 40 yards and a touchdown. VandenHeuvel had 19 carries for 92 yards.

Shawano had hoped to take the step Denmark took this season, becoming eligible for the playoffs with Friday’s win. While the Hawks will have to wait another season to make a return to the playoffs, Tomow is convinced the program is moving in the right direction.

“We knew Denmark was going to be tough,” Tomow said. “We knew that if they won they’d be in the playoffs. So we emphasized playing really hard one more time for the seniors, for the commitment and sacrifices they made for the program.”

Shawano had 10 seniors on the roster Friday: Huntington, Sousek, Henning, Braden Mueller, Grant Wainio, Dalton Parson, Mason Boogren, Dylan Hintz, Brendan Cummings, Jayce Hinkfuss and Noah Bell.

Shawano will play an exhibition game Thursday against Wausau East, but the seniors will not participate so the coaches can see younger players for next year.

“With what these seniors put in the last few years, I think they put in a nice foundation,” Tomow said. “They should be proud of what they accomplished. We’re definitely proud of what they brought to our program.”