First impressions can be deceiving. Take for example Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn's offensive performance during its 51-16 win at Alta-Aurelia last Friday night.

Initially it didn't seem that the Hawks had any explosive plays. Even Hawk coach Jay Eilers thought the offense didn't dominate as it had in three previous Class A District 1 wins.

"No. 1, [Alta-Aurelia] took the big play away from us. We didn't have those 50, 60, 70 yard runs," he said following the game. "That's a compliment to the style of defense they played, the effort they played with and their tackling. They tackled very well."

For the most part, Eilers was correct. H-M-S had to rely more on steady gains than big plays to move the ball and score. But there were exceptions.

The Hawks' first touchdown was the result of opportunistic defense that gave them the ball at the Warriors' 30. Travis Kamradt would score on a three-yard run. His second scoring run capped a 16-play, 77-yard drive that took over seven minutes.

But H-M-S did score twice on long runs by Kooper Ebel. The first was for 51 yards in the second quarter and the second was for 40 yards in the third.

The Hawks also scored on two pass plays. James Gellerman caught a 10-yard pass just before half time and Ryan Borden had a 26-yard reception late in the third quarter.

Kamradt scored the final touchdown on a short run set up by his interception in Warrior territory.

All that offense was necessary to overcome uncharacteristic penalties.

"The penalties are the thing I'm most frustrated with. That's not disciplined football," Eilers remarked. "But then I look offensively and we rushed for 370 yards on 50 attempts, 7.4 yards per carry. That doesn't seem right to me based off of what I just witnessed...They played so hard."

Ebel and Kamradt finished the night with 240 and 130 rushing yards, respectively.

Borden had two pass receptions for 51 yards and Keevyn Jacobsma caught two for 28. Kamradt had a 25-yard reception and Ethan Diehm caught a pass for 18 yards.

Big plays were not limited to the offense. The Hawks had 6.5 tackles for loss, including three by Lance Berends and one each by Ebel, Elijah Groeneweg and Kamradt. They were a big reason why Alta-Aurelia finished with -5 rushing yards.

The Warriors were forced to score on pass plays of 53 yards in the second quarter and 15 yards in the third. They finished with 241 yards through the air.

Top tacklers (solos/assists) were Kamradt 8/6, Ebel 7.5/6, Berends 6.5/6, Gellerman 6.5/5, Ethan Wiersma 4.5/4, Jacobsma 3.5/3, Ethan Baker 2.5/1 and Trenton Vollink 2/1. Wiersma also had an interception.

• Next Up: West Hancock

MIKE PETERSEN/SENTINEL-NEWS

James Gellerman can't quite come up with the interception, but he does prevent Alta-Aurelia from gaining a first down.

H-M-S [No. 5 Class A] hosts West Hancock, the defending Class A state champions and this year's top-ranked team. It is the first time H-M-S will host the Eagles.

Eilers feels the Hawks are ready for the challenge of earning their first win against West Hancock. They suffered a regular season loss and a playoff defeat in 2021.

"They're really good. They're No. 1 in the state for a reason. They won a state title last year for a reason," he said. "But that's last year. We've got some goals. We're attacking some goals and coming after things. We've got some really, really good players.

"The No. 1 thing I learned last year from those two games is that we're going to do what we do. We're going to stay focused."