Northwest Iowa — The #2 Boyden Hull Rock Valley Nighthawks and #3 Waukon Indians will meet Saturday in the Class 2A State Football Semifinals for the second straight year. The Nighthawks advanced with a 48-6 home win over Southeast Valley. Waukon the defending 2A Champions moved on with a 24-21 win over Algona.
Both teams are 10-1 on the year. Waukon dropped their season opener at Decorah and have not lost since. The Nighthawks fell to Sergeant Bluff Luton on the road in week four as their only loss this season.
JT Van’t Hul leads the Nighthawk offense with 2715 yard of total offense. He’s rushed for 826 yards and passed for 1889 more. On the ground Van’t Hul has scored 14 touchdowns while passing for 21. Cody Post and Spencer Te Slaa have both been on the receiving end of 8 touchdown passes.
The leading tackler is Brayton Van Kekerix with 75. That includes 36 solos and 19 tackles for a loss. The secondary has picked off 11 passes.
The Indians have sophomore quarterback Creed Welch at the controls. He’s passed for 2193 yard on the season with 27 touchdowns against just 7 interceptions. The leading rusher is junior Dawson Baures with 1255 yards scoring 20 touchdowns on the ground. He’s also caught 42 balls for another 933 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Defensively the Indians are led by Brady Sullivan with 79.5 tackles for the season including 61 solos with 14 for a loss and 2 sacks. The secondary has picked off 18 passes as a group led by Avery Rocksvold with 6 and Brady Behrend with 5.
Nighthawks Head Coach Corey Brandt talks about the rematch from the standpoint of meeting a team they are familiar with.
Waukon Head Coach Chad Beerman had these thoughts about a rematch.
In the Indians defense Brandt sees a young team with an impressive group of linebackers.
Offensively the scouting report looks like this.
After a season opening loss Waukon has gone on a 10 game winning streak with a team that started the season with more questions than answers.
The key points of emphasis for the Indians posting a win over Boyden Hull Rock Valley look like this.
Jon and Justin Hellinga continue our season long coverage of Nighthawk football with pregame at 3:30 for a scheduled 4:00 pm opening kick off on Saturday afternoon. Listen for the coverage on KIWA FM 105.3. We’ll stream from the website at www.kiwaradio.com.
