The South Hamilton Hawks football team returns to action on Friday night, as they make the trip south into Guthrie County to take on the Panorama Panthers in non-district action at Panorama High School in Panora. South Hamilton enters Friday with an 0-1 record, as Panorama enters at 0-1 after a 40-0 season-opening loss to AC/GC. Friday’s meeting is the 3rd all-time meeting between the 2 programs, as the series record is split at 1-1, with Panorama winning in 2016 and South Hamilton winning in 2017.
Year 1 of the Charlie Lake era was trial by fire for a young, inexperienced Panthers team, finishing with a 1-7 record in a Class A district that included a number stellar of programs. Year 2 started off inauspicious as the Panthers fell to a preseason top-10 AC/GC squad by a score of 40-0. Panorama does appear to have a consistent option at quarterback in senior Gavin Lindstrom, after the Panthers used Lindstrom and a handful of other athletes in the quarterback spot in 2024. The Panthers do need to replace their leading rusher in AJ Draper, but 3 seniors in Bryce Dawes, Austin Wagner and Blake Schwartz contributed in the Panthers opener. Most of the Panthers receiving core is back, including 2024-leading receiver Reed Draper, who caught 27 balls for 300 yards and a touchdown. Seniors Brayden Meinecke and Latyn Ashworth both recorded over 100 receiving yards and a touchdown in 2024.
On the defensive side, the Panthers needed to replace a lot of senior production from 2024, as Gavin Lindstrom led the Panthers with 6.5 tackles against AC/GC. Lindstrom is apart of a linebacking core that does bring back quite a bit of experience, including Brayden Meinecke, who had 4 tackles in the season opener and 19 tackles in 2024. The defensive line does have a bellcow back in senior Cristian Monrroy-Nunez had 5.5 tackles and a fumble recovery in week 1, as junior Cole Carstens had a great opener on the defensive line with 5.5 tackles as well. The defensive backfield is on the green side, but will be tested in run support once again with the South Hamilton wishbone attack.
South Hamilton did find positives despite their opening week loss to Saint Ansgar, as the young Hawk backs ran well in the 2nd half. Titus Herrick did an extremely admirable job moving from offensive line to fullback and is expected to lineup as the 4-back for the Hawks on Friday night. Defensively, the Hawks will likely be tested through the air as the Panorama passing attack will want to get established early.
Kickoff is slated for 7 PM on Friday Night in Panora, and the game can be heard on 95.7 KQWC or streaming online at kqradio.com.