Hawks streak to win with second-half surge

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Woodward-Granger's Bryce Achenbach makes a leaping catch for 24 yards despite double coverage from South Hamilton defenders last season. The two teams will meet, in Jewell, Friday.

WOODWARD — “We just had to make a few changes and start playing our brand of football. Once we stopped hurting ourselves we looked pretty sharp.”

The sentiments of Woodward-Granger football head coach George Ashman perfectly summed up Friday’s results, as his Hawks climbed out of a 26-8 halftime hole to post a 32-26 win over Ogden.

Ogden (0-2) was on the board first as quarterback Sam Christensen stepped into the end zone on a short run for a 6-0 lead.

Kade Polich burst free for an 83-yard touchdown run for the Hawks (2-0) 61 seconds later, with the first of three Tate Lettow conversion runs giving the hosts an 8-6 edge.

That advantage quickly disappeared in a disastrous second quarter for the Hawks. A blocked punt led to a second short Christensen run and a 14-8 Bulldog lead, with a pair of interception returns for touchdowns from Griffin Diggs — the longest from 58 yards out — pushing the score to 26-8 at the intermission.

Ashman said the team was frustrated by their own play at the break and were determined to “change the flow of the game.”

Lettow’s 38-yard run early in the third quarter cut the W-G deficit to 26-16, with Pacey Moats pulling in a Reese Jamison pass along the boundary and stepping down the sideline for a 42-yard TD with 27 seconds left in the frame. A successful conversion trimmed the deficit to 26-24.

With the defense pitching a second-half shutout the hosts capped their comeback when Jamison darted to pay dirt from four yards away with 8:30 to play. A pass to Bryce Achenbach added two points and set the score at 32-26, where it remained.

Jamison was 3-of-3 for 86 yards and a TD passing, hitting Moats for the 42-yard score and twice finding Achenbach for 44 total yards. Trevor Simmons was 2-13-2 for 22 yards, connecting with Jamison for 16 yards and with Polich for six yards.

Lettow had 191 yards and a TD on 30 carries and Polich 124 yards on 13 runs with a TD for W-G, with Simmons (3-13) and Jamison (4-6, 1 TD) also running the pigskin.

Defensive tackle Garrett Burkhart set up the first score of the second half with an interception, rumbling 15 yards with the theft. Jamison had 8.5 tackles and Simmons 7.5, with Kris Kammerer having four tackles and a pair of quarterback sacks.

W-G travels to Jewell Friday to face South Hamilton (0-2).

“They are a big, physical team and always play us tough,” Ashman said. “This will be a great test for us.”

W-G was an 11-8 winner, in Woodward, when the team met in 2018.

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