Red Hawks Advance With First-Round Playoff Victory
In their first football playoff game in about 15 years, the Froid/Lake Red Hawks were ready to roll.
Froid/Lake earned a 26-0 lead in the first quarter and cruised to a 56-6 first-round playoff victory over Broadview/ Lavina on Saturday, Oct. 24.
“It was huge,” senior Issac Johnson said of the win for the team and community. “It was a long time coming. It was a lot of fun.”
The Red Hawks feature five seniors on the squad. “We’ve been waiting for this for years.”
It turned out that waiting to play was almost as big of a challenge for the Red Hawks as the actual game. Due to virus concerns, the Red Hawks were able to only practice twice during the week. All the players, however, were ready to go on Saturday afternoon. “We faced adversity and fought through it,” Johnson said.
Playing in sub-freezing temperatures, the Red Hawks’ defense rose up early as plays by Quinn Abar, Colt Miller and Brett Stentoft forced Broadview/Lavina to punt the ball. The speedy Johnson returned the punt from his own 33 down to the Broadview/ Lavina 17.
On first down, freshman quarterback Mason Dethman connected with Johnson for the game’s first touchdown with 6:32 left in the period.
After defensive stops by Stentoft and Abar forced another punt, the running of Ashdyn Hobbs highlighted the Red Hawks’ 34-yard scoring drive. On first down at the 19, Dethman passed to running back Stentoft. The 199-pound junior made the catch at the seven and battled into the end zone for a 12-0 advantage. Froid/Lake’s defense made a big play when senior end Colt Miller stopped Hank Tuszynski short on a fourthand- one running attempt at the Pirate 37.
Facing a third-and-three at the 25, the Red Hawks reached the end zone when Dethman connected with Stentoft on another touchdown pass. Stentoft made the reception at the 14 and ran through one tackler en route to paydirt for an 18-0 lead.
After a fumble recovery by Stentoft, the Red Hawks kept rolling as Hobbs scored on a nine-yard run with 24 seconds remaining in the period. Walker Ator kicked the conversion for a 26-0 margin.
Froid/Lake was back at it early in the second quarter as gains by Dethman and Connor Huft produced a first down at the 14. A deflected pass was caught by Hobbs and was good for four yards to the 10. From there, Dethman hit Stentoft on a slant pass for a touchdown. Ator kicked the conversion for a 34-0 lead.
The Pirates got on the scoreboard with a 49-yard drive. An 11-yard pass from Kade Erickson to Tuszynski produced a touchdown to cut the margin to 34-6 with 4:31 left in the half.
Froid-Lake scored on the half’s final play when Hobbs ran in from five yards out for a 40-6 half-time advantage.
After Abar made a fourthdown tackle on Broadview/ Lavina’s opening possession of the third quarter, the Red Hawks marched down the field and scored on a twoyard run by Stentoft. Ator’s kick put the score at 48-6.
The Red Hawks’ final touchdown came on a 24yard pass play from Dethman to Huft with 1:31 remaining in the third quarter.
Froid/Lake will host Harlowton/ Ryegate in a quarter- final round game at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31. Other quarter-final round contests feature Bridger against Big Sandy, Shields Valley against Power/Dutton/Brady and Savage against White Sulphur Springs.
