October 18, 2012 at 1:28 p.m.
Hawks run past Dodgers in SWC final
Radlinger was fed the football and he responded with a pair of touchdowns during a 42 point first half.
Radlinger chewed out 182 yards on 19 carries as he took on the brunt of the handoffs. That allowed Seth Liegel to roam the field as a receiver which resulted in three catches for 197 yards including a 62 yard scoring strike from Carter Hoffman.
Hoffman also threw a scoring strike to Clayton Nelson that went for 22 yards and Nelson added a touchdown with a 51 yard interception return.
Brandon Noble scored on a 60 yard run for RV and Wyatt Schauf sprinted in from the 13. The rest of the scoring came on conversions as Hoffman passed to Noble for one two pointer and Radlinger ran in another. Brandon Hogan also kicked two extra points.
The Dodgers got a pair of touchdowns Austin Larson to Nick Crowley style that spanned 24 and 60 yards. Brycen Pratt also threw a touchdown pass to Jason Gullickson that went for 29 yards and then Larson hit Gullickson for the conversion.
Jacob Hanson booted a pair of extra points for the Dodgers.
Larson threw for 241 of Dodgeville's 270 yards while Pratt had the other 29 on the scoring drive.
Logan Yeager ran for 72 yards on 13 carries for the Dodgers.
Hoffman was six for seven for 134 yards passing to lead the Blackhawks.
River Valley coach Tim Eastlick said the strong start was key for the Hawks.
"Our kids have had a great focus all year long and have continued to get better week to week," Eastlick said. "The senior leadership has been nothing short of spectacular."
The fact that Radlinger had more touches than usual in the game allowed the Hawks to experiment with their passing game.
"We did feed Jack the ball in a pretty steady manner," Eastlick said. "He did a good job on Friday night. We used Seth (Liegel) a little more in the passing game than we have in the past and it was a good look for us."
It was also good look for Hoffman who had a very efficient passing night.
"Carter Hoffman was very solid passing the ball," Eastlick said. "He was 6-7 for and passed for two touchdowns."
Defensively the RV linebackers created an evening of havoc for the Dodgers.
"Once again our linebacking was very solid," Eastlick said. "This week they were lead by Wyatt Schauf as our tackle leader."
The game was also a key for preparation for the post season.
"It was a game that we needed to come out with a good focus and execute," Eastlick said. "The boys did well getting the job done."
With a date with Wautoma Friday the Hawks are hoping for a similar outcome against the Hornets from the time they played them in an early season non-conference game. River Valley won that one 49-14.
But, Eastlick does not see the match-up as an easy one.
"Wautoma is a much improved team from week three (the last time the two teams met). They will spread the field out and try to take advantage of us being spread out on defense," Eastlick said. "Defensive-ly they run a 3-5 with lots of blitzing linebackers that we will have to do a good job against to move the ball."
Kick-off is at 7 p.m.
The Dodgers ended their first season under coach Ryan Bohnsack. They finished 4-4, 1-4 in SWC play,
"The kids ended the season playing competitively," said Bohnsack. "River Valley is a quality football team with the ability to make a strong play-off run."
"The kids have a lot of things to be proud of from this year and I hope they continue to believe in the change in culture that is needed in Dodgeville to be competitive in the years to come."
