Chris Caporale sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Kien Moorman found his way to the endzone midway through the first quarter on an eight-yard score and the Hawks seemed to have total control both lines of scrimmage.
On the ensuing kickoff, Seymour senior Seth Jefson caught the ball and ran 80 yards to the house, setting the tone for the remainder of the game as the Thunder went on to win 44-9 Friday night at Shawano Community High School.
The Hawks and Thunder went back and forth for the entire first half, exchanging possessions, with the Hawks forcing two turnovers on downs and a fumble.
Shawano was clutch on offense in the first half, specifically junior wide receiver Dylan Sumnicht, who caught a 14-yard pass on fourth down and eight, and then a few plays later, a 12-yard reception on third and eight, which led to a field goal by Jacob Moesch.
“I was really happy with the effort. We were fighting off the ball up front, our offensive line and our running back,” SCHS head coach Alan Tomow said. “We were running hard and everything was happening full speed the way we thought it could.”
With time in the first half winding down, the Thunder were able to drive down to the Hawks’ 27-yard line before calling a timeout with just two seconds remaining in the half. Jared Swenson booted a 45-yard field goal through the uprights to give Seymour the lead heading into the break.
“I want to give all due credit to Shawano, because they played well,” Thunder head coach Matt Molle said. “I don’t want to make it about us, because it wasn’t. They did some nice things in the first half.”
Jefson then made his presence known early in the second half, with a 70-yard touchdown run on the first offensive play in the second half, a 30-yard touchdown run on Seymour’s first play of its next drive and an 18-yard touchdown scamper after the Hawks failed a fourth down conversion on a fake punt.
Jefson finished the game with 15 rushes for 194 yards and four total touchdowns.
“We knew coming in that if we could stop (Jefson), we’re going to be there,” Tomow said. “We wanted them to beat us with their third and fourth options.”
His three rushing touchdowns all came within 4:02 of the beginning of the third quarter and widened the 1-point halftime lead to a 30-9 blowout.
“You keep the pressure on, eventually you’re going to find cracks. We found a couple adjustments,” Molle said. “We liked the first two plays, Seth is a good runner, and we just needed to adjust a few things. Once we got that, I think our guys breathed a little.”
Tyrell Hesse recorded his fifth interception in the past two games.
Every single play of the third quarter came in Hawks’ territory, with a short field putting extra pressure on its defense.
Seymour tacked on two more touchdowns within the final 5:30 of the third quarter to finish out the scoring on the night. The entire fourth quarter was played with a running clock because of the 35-point Thunder advantage.
Kien Moorman had 18 rushes for 91 yards and a touchdown while senior wide receiver Adam Bartz caught five passes for 48 yards.
Scoring summary
Seymour 7 3 34 0 — 44
Shawano 6 3 0 0 — 9
First quarter
Sh: Moorman 8-yard run (PAT blocked) 4:47.
Se: Jefson 80-yard kick return (PAT good) 4:35.
Second quarter
Sh: Moesch 30-yard field goal 9:40.
Se: Swenson 45-yard field goal 0:00.
Third quarter
Se: Jefson 70-yard run (PAT good) 11:41.
Se: Jefson 30-yard run (PAT blocked) 10:22.
Se: Jefson 18-yard run (PAT good) 7:58.
Se: Jerad Anderson 1-yard run (PAT good) 5:25.
Se: Zach Van Schyndel 12-yard reception from Josh Krause (PAT good) 0:58.
Fourth quarter
No scoring