The #5(1A) South Hardin football team will look to continue to take care of business in all three phases as they host Emmetsburg in a Class 1A Second Round matchup on Friday. This will be the first ever meeting between the programs.
South Hardin (8-1) rolled to a 40-7 win over Pella Christian in the first round last week. The Tigers rushed for a season high 357 yards in the win over the Eagles. Jaxon Drury has a bulk of the carries for the Tigers with 1,275 rushing yards and 19 rushing touchdowns (both rank and third most in 2A). Peyton Welch has managed the offense with 1,449 passing yards and 18 touchdowns. Lucas Perry leads the defense with 42 tackles.
South Hardin Head Coach on how the Tigers can continue to get the job done on both sides of the ball.
“We did a good job of staying home, keeping things in front, making a play that was there, contested or broke it up. I thought our front seven in there did a great job of keeping the quarterback on his toes,” says Eller. “It was a good mix of different guys getting the ball. If you’re gonna really stack the box, we got the guys to hit the pass and make you pay. If you’re gonna sit back and take away the deep shots or take away some shots, then we gotta be able to run the ball and we did that. If you can mix it up and keep teams on their toes, there’s nothing better than calling plays when you’re able to do both. That makes it a lot of fun.”
Emmetsburg (8-1) soared to a 57-7 win over Grandview Christian in the first round last week. The E-Hawks are a run heavy team with 3,360 rushing yards (most in 2A). Carson Baak leads the backfield with 953 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns, and the quarterback Gavin Swanson adds 500 rushing yards and nine touchdown carries.
Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. in Eldora. The winner will advance to next week’s quarterfinal against either #2(1A) Dike-New Hartford or South Hamilton.
