The West Fork football team was step for step with Lake Mills through three quarters, the Bulldogs were able gain an edge in fourth to steal a Warhawks homecoming win 27-17 on Friday.
The Warhawks led 9-7 after the first quarter. Lake Mills scored the only point of the second quarter to hold a 15-9 advantage at the break. West Fork regained a slight advantage at 17-15 out of the break, with the only score of the third quarter. The Bulldogs pulled away for the win with 12 unanswered points in the fourth. Both teams had their run games humming, as the Warhawks rushed for 214 yards and the Bulldogs rushed for 210 yards.
West Fork Head Coach Dan Westhoff on the game changer against the Bulldogs and the missing piece for the Warhawks.
“Turnovers were a really critical part of the game and I thought the game really swung on a handful of plays. Unfortunately, we came out on the short side of it,” says Westhoff. “We’re at that point now where we’re close, we can compete and we’ve made a ton of progress. We’re lacking that killer instinct, the missing piece of the puzzle, to get over the hump and close out a tight game like this. It was a back and forth, competitive game, exciting game, and we didn’t finish the job. We got to go back and learn from our mistakes and we need get ready to go next week.”
The Warhawks defense forced three fumbles to keep the game tight, but the Warhawks were plagued by two turnovers of their own.
Dax Suntken had 17 carries for 114 yards, a touchdown and two fumble recoveries, and Tyler Fessler had 17 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown to lead the Warhawks.
West Fork (1-3, 0-2 district) will travel to #3(A) West Hancock on Friday.
