Hancock running back Chase Evink had a monster game on Saturday as he ran for 401 yards on 30 carries and scored 3 touchdowns to lead the Owls to a 56-28 victory over the Hillcrest Comets in the Section 4 – 9 Player semifinals. Hancock had a total of 554 yards on the day and compiled 24 first downs. The Comets also had a great offensive effort with 404 total yards and 18 first downs.
Hillcrest scored first when they recovered a Hancock fumble and proceeded to go 80 yards with the drive culminating with a 12 yard TD run by Ethan Swedberg and a Swedberg two-point conversion run with 4:16 left in the first quarter, giving the Comets an 8-0 lead. The first quarter ended in an 8-8 tie after Hancock pulled even with a 5 yard run and two-point conversion by Nathan Kellenberger.
Evink notched the first of his three touchdowns in the second quarter on a 17 yard run and Brady Luthi delivered a successful two-point conversion pass to Kellenberger as Hancock went ahead, 16-8. Kellenberger then hauled in a 15 yard TD pass from Luthi for a 22-8 lead, before Hillcrest cut it to 22-16 on a one yard pass from Swedberg to Nathan Bermel and a two-point run by Swedberg. The TD was setup by a 51 yard run by Thor Ewan. A 9 yard run by Evink and his two-point conversion run increased the Owls lead to 30-16 at halftime.
Hillcrest closed the gap to 30-22 on a 14 yard touchdown pass from Swedberg to Bermel. Evink’s 59 yard TD run and a successful two-point play put the lead up to 38-22 and started a string of four consecutive TD’s for the Owls which put the game out of reach at the end of the quarter. Jeremiah Schmidgall scored on a 13 yard run, Luthi connected with Riley Miller on a 30 yard TD pass and then hit Kellenberger with a 38 yard scoring toss. Hillcrest completed the scoring on a 3 yard run by Swedberg, putting the final at 56-28 as the fourth quarter was scoreless.
Luthi completed 6-of-11 passes for 107 yards and 3 TD’s. His top receivers were Miller (3 catches, 54 yards, TD) and Kellenberger (3 catches, 53 yards, 2 TD’s).
For the Comets, Swedberg finished with 173 passing yards, completing 16-of-21 attempts. The Comets ran for 217 yards on the day, led by Ewan with 162 yards on 19 carries. Drew Fischer (7 catches, 92 yards) and Isaac Blaskowski (4 receptions, 45 yards) joined Bermel (3 catches, 31 yards, 2 TD’s) as the leading receivers for Hillcrest.
Hancock will face Border West for the Section 4 – 9 Player title in the Fargodome on Thursday at 11:30am.