The Hatchet football team ran into Stratford, the third-place team in the Marawood, on Friday and fell 41-8.
“We got off to a great start defensively,” THS coach John Larson said. “We played as a team, 11 men flying to the football. Overall we played well on the defensive side and held Stratford to 250 total yards. But we gave up a couple of big plays in key situations that allowed the Tigers to continue drives.
“Special teams took a step backward. Offensively, we simply got manhandled. Stratford has the best defense we’ve seen this year. Their defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage. An offense is only as good as its offensive line and we just got dominated.”
A 36-yard reception from Drew Spaeth to Joe Redman and two-point conversion by Jake Reif provided the only points of the first quarter. The Hatchets shut down the Tigers’ first two drives. But Stratford broke free for 20 more in the second for a 28-0 halftime lead. TD runs of one and 18 yards by Eli Temanson sandwiched an 11-yard burst by Spaeth. A 57-yard punt return by Temanson made it 35-0 in the third and Kellen Bombach closed the Stratford scoring with a 22-yard run.
Tomahawk’s Kaleb Kaminski hit Lorne Ahrens with a 9-yard strike late in the fourth quarter. Dakota Thompson added a two-point run.
The Hatchets were limited to just one yard rushing, but Kaminski completed 11-of-19 passes for 102 yards. Ahrens (3-42), Aaron Leonhard (3-33), Jordan Roessler (3-25) and Jake Borchardt (2, -3) made the catches.
The defense was paced by: Jake Borchardt (2 S, 3 A, 2 sa); Kaminski (3 S, 4 A); Leonhard (1 S, 5 A, 1 PBU); Dane Borchardt (9 A); Jacob Schaper (2 S, 2 A); Ahrens (1 S, 2 A, 2 PBU); Isaac Schoone (2S, 2A); Renn (1 S, 3 A); Aaron Schoone (5 A).
Stratford improved to 3-1 in the Marawood while Tomahawk fell to 1-4.