The #4 (1A) South Hardin football team advanced to their second Class 1A state quarterfinals in a row, with a 20-0 home win over Ridge View in the second round on Friday.
After a scoreless first quarter, South Hardin’s Peyton Welch with great footwork found a hole and rushed for a 13 yard touchdown to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead with 4:20 to go before the half. On the ensuing drive, the Tigers defense had a red zone stand denying the Raptors their best scoring chance of the half by forcing a turnover on downs. During that series, the Tigers Jake Balvanz had a score saving pass breakup in the corner of the endzone to help keep the Tigers ahead 7-0 entering the half. The Tigers leveled up to a two score lead as Welch threw a strike to Sam Benson for a 22 yard touchdown to make it 13-0 with 8:04 to go in the third. The Tigers punched in their final score of the night late in the third quarter, as Kameron Adams carried it in from two yards out to give the Tigers a 20-0 lead. The Tigers defense maintained the shutout through a scoreless fourth quarter to help the Tigers advance. Head Coach Nick Eller.
“Really proud of the guys for just doing everything they could to basically just keep ourselves in the game. They keep chipping away when there was some frustrating times. Then in the second half we really kind of clicked and started to play better offensively. The defense played lights out all night long,” says Eller. “A fun win against a team that I think is very underrated. I really thought they had a very nice team, very good size. They were bigger probably on the line than us, bigger in the secondary and linebackers than us across the board. You’re going against a team that’s got better size. I’d say physical plays is a pretty even match. It’s a tough go and we knew it would be all night long. To get out of there 20-0, I’d take that any day.”
Welch went 14-19 for 215 passing yards and had two touchdowns (one passing and one rushing). Benson had 150 receiving yards and a touchdown. Adams had 58 yards and a touchdown.
South Hardin (9-1) will host Treynor for a Class 1A quarterfinal on Friday, November 7. The game will air on 104.9 KLMJ.
Full Interview with Head Coach Nick Eller:
