The Warriors scored 14 unanswered first quarter points on a 44 yard run, followed by a two-point conversion and a one yard TD run.

Hancock got on the scoreboard in the second quarter when Davin Rose hit Jackson Koehl with a 20 yard touchdown strike and Rose ran for the two-point conversion cutting the Warriors halftime lead to 14-8.

In the third quarter Rose connected with Matt Thompson on an 18 yard TD pass and Rose scored the two-point conversion to give the Owls a 16-14 lead.  A 35 yard fumble return by the Owls extended their lead to 22-14 and that’s the way the third quarter ended.

The Warriors started the wild fourth quarter with a 2 yard touchdown run and a successful two-point conversion run to tie the game at 22-22.  Rose then hooked up with Thompson on a 20 yard scoring toss and the two connected again for the two-point conversion for a 30-22 lead.  Wheaton/Herman-Norcross cut the lead to 30-28 on a 5 yard TD pass, but the conversion try failed.  Rose threw two more TD passes, the first covering 44 yards to Koehl, followed by a two-point pass to Luke Joos, and the second covering 14 yards to Thompson to put the final score at 44-28.

“Wheaton came out fast and got up early on us.  I was very pleased with the way our players responded,” said Hancock Head Coach Chad Christianson.  “They did not flinch, they stuck with what we were doing and trusted each other and trusted the coaches.  Our defense did a nice job of bending but not breaking which gave our offense time to get things going.  Wheaton is a very good ball club and this was a huge win for us.”

Rose completed 20-of-25 passes for 300 yards and 5 TD’s.  He also ran for 114 yards on 15 carries.  Thompson hauled in 9 passes for 168 yards and 3 scores.  Koehl led the defensive effort with 9 solo tackles and 11 assisted tackles.  He also had a sack.

Zach Braaten led Wheaton/Herman-Norcross with 182 passing yards and Jarred Ehlers had 101 rushing yards for the Warriors.  Bryant Callenius had 67 yards receiving.