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The SWC is a very good football league.
That was proven again last Friday when River Valley handed Dodgeville its first loss of the season, 37-17.
It had been quite a week for the Dodgers. On the strength of a 48-45 win over Platteville the Dodgers went through the week ranked and their quarterback, Austin Larson, was named WSN's Player of the Week.
But if any of that bothered the Blackhawks, it didn't show. They had 17 points on the scoreboard before the Dodgers scored and the Blackhawks hung on another score for a 24-7 halftime lead. The second half was closer but not close enough for the Dodgers.
Dodgeville coach Ryan Bohnsack had one word to describe the difference between the two teams.
Execution.
"We need to execute our schemes if we want to win the games against a top level team like River Valley," Bohnsack said. "River Valley executed more plays than we did and that was the difference."
River Valley ran 42 rushing plays to 20 for the Dodgers. That meant they kept the Dodgeville defense on the field for long spurts.
The difference in the ground game was 155 to 167.
River Valley junior Beau Solomon won the passing duel, hitting for 235 yards on a 15 for 20 night.
Larson completed 15 while throwing the ball 38 times for 178 yards.
One of Larson's passes ended up in River Valley defensive back Alex Shifflet's hands and he turned it into a 16 yard scoring interception. After sophomore Cole Eastlick's extra point kick the Hawks had a 7-0 lead.
They scored again in the first quarter when  Wyatt Schauf finished off a drive with a one yard plunge. Eastlick's kick made it 14-0.
The Hawks tacked on another three points early in the second quarter on Eastlick's 27 yard field goal.
Larson went 12 yards on a keeper to get the Dodgers on the board and Jacob Hanson kicked the conversion.
Solomon then fired a 12 yarder to Lucas Price and Eastlick's conversion made it 24-7 at the half.
Dodgeville scored first after intermission when sophomore Brady Wetter got in from 15 yards away. Hanson's kick cut the lead to 24-14.
Valley's answer to that was a Solomon to Mitch Nachreiner pass play that ended up as a 12 yard touchdown. Eastlick kicked the conversion to make it 31-14.
The Dodgers made a little noise with a 20 yard Hanson field goal in the fourth quarter but Shifflet's 23 yard scamper put the game out of reach.
Shifflet was a thorn for the Dodgers with his two touchdowns and two interceptions. His first one was for a score and his second came in the second quarter to stop a Dodgeville drive.
Solomon's passing was a great compliment to River Valley's run game.
"Beau did a nice job getting the ball to the open receiver and this allowed our players to gain yards after the catch," said River Valley coach Tim Eastlick. He said Shifflet, Nachreiner and Price all had big catches.
Jack Radlinger, a 5-10, 160 pound senior, did not score but gained 99 yards for the Hawks on 19 carries. Schauf, who did score, carried 16 times for 67 yards.
Dodgeville's Logan Yeager picked up 151 yards on 19 carries but did not score. He was the recipient of a lot of attention from the RV defense.
"Our defense did a nice job getting off of blocks and flowing as a team to the ball carrier," Eastlick said about keeping Yeager from scoring. "Defensively our team did a great job containing the long ball and making plays when we needed them. "
River Valley will host Platteville this week.
"Platteville will be a very tough SWC opponent for us this Friday night," Eastlick said. "We will have to clean up a few things on both sides of the ball, but our plan is to be better this week than last."
The Dodgers will be concentrating on getting ready to travel to Prairie du Chien.
"We will continue to improve as a program and be competitive against the teams in the SWC," Bohnsack said. "Offensively we made to many mistakes throwing and catching the ball. Defensively we need to get a better rush on the quarterback and break up passes. I'm confident in our kids ability to make these adjustments against Prairie Friday."