POCAHONTAS — The South Hamilton Hawks football team returned to action on Friday night, as they made the trip into Pocahontas County to take on the Pocahontas Area Indians in Class 1A, District 3 at the Pocahontas Football Complex. South Hamilton entered at 0-5 and 0-2 in district play, while Pocahontas entered at 1-4 and 0-2 in district play.
South Hamilton took the football first and drove the field in a march that took up over half the first quarter and scored on 3-yard touchdown run by Jose Babcock as South Hamilton took an initial 8-0 lead. The Indians would punt on their opening drive and back the Hawks up inside their own 5, as two plays later Xander Small picked off a Garrett Johnson pass and scored from 5 yards out to make the score 8-7. Pocahontas would then take the lead on a 3-yard touchdown run by quarterback Blake Bunda to take a 14-8 lead, but South Hamilton answered on their ensuing drive with a 7-yard touchdown run by Wyatt Gelder to tie the game at 14-14. Pocahontas would follow by driving down the field and scoring on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Bunda to Christian Valenzuela to put the Indians ahead 21-14 at halftime.
The 2nd half saw the Indians start things with a bang as they returned to opening kickoff back 78 yards for a touchdown to take a 29-14 lead. South Hamilton would answer quickly with a 70-yard touchdown run by Wyatt Gelder to bring the score to 29-20, as Jose Babcock picked off a Blake Bunda pass on the ensuing Pocahontas possession, as the Hawks capitalized with a 16-yard touchdown run by Wyatt Gelder to bring the score to 29-28. Pocahontas would punt on their next possession, as the Hawks were then face with a punt, but a dropped snap by Jose Babcock led to a 30-yard pass completion to Garrett Johnson to give the Hawks fresh life. South Hamilton scored 6 plays later on a 4-yard touchdown run by Babcock to take a 36-29 lead. Pocahontas tied the game on the next drive with a Blake Bunda 47-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 36-36. South Hamilton would punt the football back to Pocahontas with over 2 minutes to go as the Indians drove down and scored on a Blake Bunda touchdown run with 9 seconds to go to clinch a 43-36 win.
Wyatt Gelder led the Hawks with 194 yards and 3 touchdowns on 27 carries, while Jose Babcock had 65 yards and 2 touchdowns on 14 carries, as Maddux Becker had 89 yards on 24 carries.
South Hamilton football returns to action on Friday night, when they host the Emmetsburg E-Hawks in Class 1A, District 2 action for homecoming at Bill Taylor Field with kickoff at 7 PM.