Chris Caporale
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Shawano Community High School senior lineman Zeke Gueths tackles Green Bay East’s Deonte Carlton for a loss during the first quarter of the Hawks’ 40-18 loss.
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Shawano Community High School junior wide receiver pulls in a catch during the first quarter of the Hawks’ 40-18 loss to visiting Green Bay East.
Tenacious defense by the Shawano Community High School football team withstood an initial surge by Green Bay East, but spelled trouble in the end as the Hawks fell 40-18 Friday in Shawano.
Shawano forced a turnover on downs and a fumble on its side of the field in the first quarter, but could not get anything going on offense.
Green Bay East senior Austin Short, a 215-pound running back, found the end zone from 1 yard out early in the second quarter to open the scoring.
The Hawks had to punt on the next drive, but forced a fumble on the punt return, which led to a Kien Moorman 5-yard score to tie the game at 6-6 with 6:33 remaining in the half.
Short found the end zone again to extend the Red Raiders’ lead to eight at the break.
Short scored again to open the third quarter on his third 1-yard score of the night. He tallied 149 yards on the ground.
The next Red Raiders’ possession, leading 20-6, with the ball on the on the 1-yard line, Tyler Onesti recovered a fumble to shift the momentum back in favor of the Hawks.
It did not last long, though.
Green Bay East returned two interceptions for touchdowns on Shawano’s next two possessions, pushing the margin up to 28.
“Jack (Hanuer) is a good quarterback. That (first) one got away from him high,” Shawano head coach Alan Tomow said. “I’ll take Jack anytime making those throws and it’s just that one got away and, unfortunately, that one ended in the end zone for them.”
The Red Raiders, who had continued to run the ball and control the line of scrimmage at times, was not able put too many points on the scoreboard until those interceptions.
“We did some good things, but made mistakes at the same time. We fumbled, turned the ball over. We overcame some of those things, with pick sixes and stuff like that, so that helped us,” Green Bay East head coach Brian Nast said.
Green Bay East quarterback Deonte Carlton added a 50-yard touchdown run of his to extend the lead to 40-6, but the Hawks would bounce back.
Moorman found his stride, taking a handoff down the right side for a 59-yard score. Shawano then forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, leading to a touchdown catch by 6-foot-2 wide receiver Adam Bartz to pull within 22.
“Those last couple scoring drives shows what we’re really capable of,” Tomow said. “We can move the ball, we can make big plays. It’s just momentum and making sure we’re playing assignment football. We’ve got the skill guys that can make plays in space; we’ve just got to give them the chance.”
Tomow liked the fight in his athletes, believing they might be a different team next week.
“The kids competed all the way through. Yeah, it’s not the result we wanted, but we’re going to come back,” Tomow said. “I expect an angrier football team when we play New London.”
GREEN BAY EAST 40, SHAWANO 18
Score by quarter
Green Bay East 0 14 6 20 — 40
Shawano 0 6 0 12 — 18
First quarter
No scoring
Second quarter
GBE: Short 1-yard run (kick missed) 6-0 (11:32). S: Moorman 5-yard run (kick missed) 6-6 (6:33). GBE: Short 1-yard run (conversion good) 14-6 (2:58).
Third quarter
GBE: Short 1-yard run (conversion missed) 20-6 (8:23).
Fourth quarter
GBE: Dominic Blozinski (conversion good) 28-6 (11:05). GBE: Nick Sanok (kick missed) 34-6 (8:37). GBE: Carlton 50-yard run (kick missed) 40-6 (7:08). S: Moorman 59-yard run (conversion missed) 40-12 (6:49). S: Bartz 4-yard reception (conversion missed) 40-18 (5:16).