Hawks unable to spring upset over No. 2 Eagles

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Head coach George Ashman leads W-G off the field prior to the start of the team scrimmage Aug. 18. The Hawks narrowly missed a playoff spot this season, finishing 6-3 overall and 5-2 in Class 1A District 5 play.

WOODWARD — One week after surprising seventh-ranked Pleasantville, Woodward-Granger was looking for a second consecutive upset when they hosted No. 2 Pella Christian Friday.

The Eagles, however, had other ideas, and raced to a 17-0 lead after one quarter en route to a 31-8 win at Hawk Stadium.

Pella Christian (9-0, 7-0) scored with touchdowns passes of 74 yards to Sam Brouwer and of 65 yards to Noah Treimer from quarterback Hayden Vroom, with a 32-yard Nathan De Bruin field goal giving the guests their early 17-0 lead, a margin that remain unchanged through the second quarter.

W-G (6-3, 5-2) was in position to put points on the board late in the first half, but were stopped by a goal-line stand from the Pella Christian defense.

Vroom hit Brouwer with another TD pass to establish a 24-0 Eagle lead in the third quarter.

The hosts erased the goose egg on their half of the scoreboard when Brendan Bird connected with Bryce Achenbach for a 66-yard scoring strike. J.P. Nixon ran in the two-point conversion to change the Hawk deficit to 24-8.

Kyle Fynaardt scored on a 43-yard run for the guests to cap the scoring.

The loss dropped W-G into a three-way tie for second place in the district with Pleasantville and Interstate 35, with the latter pair finishing 7-2 overall but 5-2 in league play. Pleasantville defeated Central Decatur, 34-0, Friday, with I-35 a 34-25 winner over Mount Ayr.

As each had defeated one of the other and lost to the other rival, the deciding factor were playoff points based upon margin of victory, with Pleasantville awarded second place and the final playoff spot. I-35 finished third, narrowly topping W-G.

Vroom was 14-of-20 for 317 yards and three scores through the air for the Eagles whiel rushing 23 times for 89 yards.

Brouwer (7-184, 2 TDs) and Treimer (3-117, 1 TD) led the receivers, with Treimer adding 36 yards on nine carries.

De Bruin hit all four PAT kicks and the 32-yard field goal while intercepting two passes with 19 total return yards.

Bird was 7-21-2 for 126 yards and a score for the hosts. Achenbach (2-80, 1 TD), Austin Scharlau (3-23), Payton Tague (1-20) and Nixon (1-3) all had catches.

Tague led the ground attack with 148 yards on 30 hauls. Bird (13-91), Scharlau (4-13) and Nixon (2-18) had the other carries.

Logan Canova and Reese Jamison each recovered a fumble for W-G. Gabe Yingst had 6.5 tackles and Nixon 5.5, with Scharlau leading the way with 10 stops, two of them for a loss. Scharlau finishes his career with 207.5 tackles.

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