Blackhawk football beats Hillmen

By Colton Thompson

Friday night marked the long awaited return of high school football in Prairie du Chien. The Prairie du Chien Blackhawks (1-0) took on the Platteville Hillmen (0-1) in what was a back and forth game all night. The Blackhawks played great defense on the night, only allowing Platteville to score twice. At the end of night, the Hawks were able to walk off of the field with a 14-10 win.

PdC won the coin toss and elected to defer and Platteville chose to receive the kick to begin the night. Platteville started their drive at their own 27 and PdC held them to only 15 total yards on their first drive. PdC’s first drive of the night only went for 9 yards, forcing a punt and 13-yard return by Jesse Martin. On the Blackhawks’ last drive of the 1st quarter, Maddox Cejka threw an interception to Seth Millsap who brought it back for 10 yards. Platteville then put up a huge drive making it all the way to the PdC 1-yard line but was stopped just short after going for it on 4th down by a line of PdC defenders.

The two teams went back and forth all the way until the end of the 2nd quarter when Platteville had the ball at their own 27-yard line with 0:43 to go in the first half. John Goomey ran the ball for 17 yards to get the ball close to midfield. Then, Derek Digman completed a pass to Devin Digman for 11 to get them another 1st down. Knowing they still needed quite a few more yards, Derek Digman aired one out to Jesse Martin downfield and completed the pass for 35 yards with only 4 seconds left in the half. PdC called a timeout but Kayden Addie then hit a 27-yard field goal to put the Hillmen up 3-0 at the end of the first half.

PdC started the second half with the football but unfortunately fumbled on the first play of the drive and the ball was recovered by Platteville’s Chase Carrol. Luckily, the Blackhawks’ defense was able to put up a good stop as they forced Platteville to a 3 and out and caused another punt. The Blackhawks marched down the field on their next possession and young Maddox Cejka completed his first pass of his varsity football career to Jon Nicholson for a 62-yard touchdown. Derek Grondin drilled the PAT and the Hawks led 7-3.

Platteville was able to counter after the PdC score with a nice drive of their own. The drive was started by a big pass to Jesse Martin for a gain of 16. Unfortunately, the Blackhawks received a pass interference penalty and the Hillmen were able to move up 15 more yards. After that, Platteville gave the ball to their running back John Goomey who ran for a total of 37 yards over the next few plays as the 3rd quarter ended. 

Right out of the gate to start the 4th quarter, Derek Digman passed to Devin Digman again for a touchdown and Kayden Addie hit the PAT with ease putting the Hillmen up 10-7.

On their next drive, the PdC offense responded again by marching down the field led by a few big rushes by Bradyn Saint totaling 50 yards on the drive. The Hawks ran a counter play to Max Amundson and he was able to punch it in for the TD. Grondin then hit another PAT to put PdC up 14-10. 

Platteville’s last drive of the game consisted of a -5-yard rush and the Hillmen attempting to throw deep three times and being broken up all three times by the five defenders Prairie sent back to cover the pass. After that, the Hawks were able to kneel it twice to close out a 14-10 season-opening victory.

Bradyn Saint led the PdC rushers with 155 total rushing yards and Max Amundson added on 51 yards and a touchdown. Leading the receivers was Jon Nicholson with the only reception for the Hawks for 62 yards and a touchdown. Maddox Cejka, in his first game, was 1-8 with 1 TD and 1 Int. Bradyn Saint and Max Amundson led the defense with 13 total tackles apiece. Ryan Drinkwine also added 2 sacks and 5 total tackles.

The Hawks started their season and conference play with a win and will be traveling to River Valley to play the other Blackhawks on Oct. 2. Game time is 7 p.m.