COLMAN – In their closest game of the season, the Hawks came out on top against Wolsey-Wessington 46-36 to advance to the 9B championship.
The Warbirds drove the ball down to the Hawks’ 7-yard-line on their first possession, but turned it over on downs. It was the first of three times that Wolsey-Wessington drove inside the Colman-Egan 15 and came away with no points. The other two possessions ended in a fumble and an interception.
“That was good hard-nose team defense. Playing together, staying confident and playing hard,” Colman-Egan head coach Chad Williamson said. “They’re not going to give up just because they get inside the 20, we just have to keep playing hard.”
Colman-Egan quarterback Nate Tolley then had a 43-yard touchdown to give the Hawks an 8-0 lead. The Warbirds tied the game 8-8 on a 1-yard Skylar Zomar run. Tolley answered with a 54-yard touchdown run to put the Hawks back on top 16-8.
Tolley didn’t just do it with his legs though. He then threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to Nate Voelker to put Colman-Egan up 24-8. Tolley would have one more passing touchdown and one more rushing touchdown to give him five total on the night. He had 201 rushing yards and 61 passing yards.
“Nate will tell you right away that the offensive line is valuable to him and allows him to have good games. Nate’s just a good team player. Every player is valuable to us just like Nate. He made some nice plays on defense, but Chase Hemmer had a nice pick. On those plays our D-line is rushing the quarterback. All those plays are just a big team effort,” Williamson said.
He wasn’t the only quarterback who had a good game. The Warbirds’ Zomer scored back-to-back rushing touchdowns to pull his team within 10. But the Warbirds were unable to convert the two-point conversion or onside kick and were unable to stop the Hawks and the game ended.
Zomer finished with 98 rushing yards and five touchdowns. He also went 11-for-22 and had 231 passing yards.
Colman-Egan will play the No. 6 Herreid/Selby Area on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. The Wolverines upset No. 2 Harding County 54-32 in the other semifinal.
“We have a lot to improve on,” Williamson said. “I don’t know who we’re going to play, but I know that both of those teams are really coached well and are going to find our weaknesses and try to expose them. We’re going to have to come out and fine tune our game and try to improve every aspect.”
