The #4 (1A) South Hardin football team saw a dream realized advancing to the UNI-Dome and the Class 1A semifinals for the first time in program history with a 27-14 quarterfinal win over #5 (1A) Treynor last week. Head Coach Nick Eller.
“Our guys just had that next play mentality. Get the ball back, drive it well, and then the defense makes a stop. It was just an up and down game. We expected that, they have a great team. I was really was impressed with them. Our guys just fought to finish it, and that’s what they did,” says Eller. “End of the fourth quarter here it is, the Dome’s on the line. A couple of those timeouts were, you want to go or not? Here it is. Do it. Then they did.”
The Tigers defense has played at a championship caliber with 18 turnovers forced this season, including five in their semifinal win over the Cardinals. The defense has allowed only four opponents to score in double digits and has held all other opponents to seven points or less including four shutouts. The most points allowed was to #2 (1A) Grundy Center who tracked down 21 points in a district meeting on October 3.
“We relied a lot on the defense at times. We knew we were going to have to be because they have a good team. The wind made it pretty hard to move the ball at times. We had to be a lot more one-dimensional. Super proud of the defense and our defensive coaches that have done an amazing job all year,” says Eller. “They finished the game off with all the turnovers. That last one with the scoop and run made it much more dramatic. Very cool and not surprising from our defense because they’ve been awesome all year.”
Lucas Perry with 61.5 tackles including 7.5 tackles for loss and Sawyer Kane with 56.5 tackles including 4.5 for loss lead the Tigers defensive patrol. Casey Williamson has five interceptions and Perry has two fumble recoveries to lead in takeaways.
South Hardin (10-1) will take on #1 (1A) West Lyon (11-0) in a Class 1A semifinal on Friday at 1:00 p.m. the game will air on 99 The Wave.
