Prairie du Chien Football throttles Lancaster 42-7 in regular season finale
Submitted by admin on Fri, 10/25/2024 - 12:22
Hunter Straka (3) scoops up a Lancaster fumble as he races for the end zone in front of teammate Deacon Chesebro (13).
Prairie junior defensive back Mason Hird (10) tries to outrun Ashton Landt (11) and Lancaster’s Semaj Venson (5) during an interception return. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Hunter Straka (3) greets Blake Thiry (9) in the air after one of Thiry’s four touchdowns in the game. Brady Lenzendorf (7) joins in. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Senior Xander DeHart tries to get away after taking the ball away from Lancaster running back Nolan Hanke (28) in the first quarter. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Freshman quarterback Cayden Sutter (6) gets ready to kneel out the Hawks win behind his offensive line of Mikey Pettit (72), Dayton Beall (62), Elias Kimbler (66), Rylan Poole (74) and Asher Thomas (58). (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
By Derick Kelly
The Prairie du Chien Blackhawks football team traveled to rival Lancaster this past Friday night looking to cement an undefeated conference season for the second time in the last three seasons and the third time in the last seven years after having not done so from 1989 to 2017. Standing in the Hawks way was the second place Flying Arrows, as the two teams met up on the gridiron for the 91st time since the rivalry began back in 1897.
This game was all Prairie du Chien from the word go as the Hawks defense forced (and recovered) a pair of Lancaster fumbles on back-to-back offensive drives, including a 34 yard scoop-and-score recovery by Hunter Straka to make the score 14-0 in favor of Prairie du Chien just five and a half minutes into the game.
The two teams exchanged a pair of punts to conclude the first quarter before the Hawks got a nine-yard touchdown run from Blake Thiry (one of four touchdowns on the night for the senior) just 48 seconds into the second quarter to make the score 21-0. Both teams then took turns turning the ball over on downs before the Hawks offense struck again when senior quarterback Abe Amundson connected with Thiry on a 77-yard touchdown reception. Xander DeHart connected on the third of his six PAT kicks in the game to make the score 28-0 with 2:15 left before halftime.
Prairie du Chien received the ball to start the second half and ate two and a half minutes off the clock before Thiry added his fourth touchdown of the night, this one a 55-yard touchdown run as the Hawks now had a running clock on the Flying Arrows for the first time in nearly 40 years. Junior Mason Hird concluded the Hawks scoring on the night with a 41-yard touchdown run with 3:44 left in the third quarter as Prairie du Chien extended the score to 42-0. The Flying Arrows avoided the shutout thanks to a 50-yard touchdown run by Dayne Kauffman with 3:45 remaining in the game with the final score being 42-7 in favor of the Hawks. The 35-point win by Prairie du Chien was their largest victory over Lancaster since winning 37-0 in 1985.
Thiry led the Hawks on the ground (10 carries for 174 yards and three touchdowns) and in the air (two catches for 80 yards and one touchdown). Amundson was 3-of-6 passing for 81 yards and one touchdown and zero interceptions. Nick McCullick caught the other pass from Amundson for one yard in the win. The Hawks rushing attack also got contributions from Bryce Lenzendorf (5 attempts for 20 yards), Darian Jackson (5 attempts for 14 yards), Drake Chesebro (3 attempts for 2 yards), Straka (1 attempt for 1 yard) and Hird (1 attempt for 41 yards and one touchdown). Hird also had an interception in the game as the Hawks defense forced three key turnovers by the Flying Arrows.
The 2024 WIAA postseason brackets were revealed on Saturday morning and the Blackhawks earned the number one seed in their grouping in large part to their 8-1 overall record and 7-0 mark in the SWC and their strength of schedule, which is ranked as high as the 20th toughest schedule (regardless of division) in Wisconsin this season. The Blackhawks will host the eight seed in their group, Southwestern/East Dubuque (IL), a relatively new co-op program making its postseason debut after being ruled ineligible the last two seasons by the WIAA after missing a registration deadline in 2021.
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