HIGH SCHOOL

Hawks cruise to victory over North

Dan Holm
dholm@dmreg.com

The Ankeny football team tuned up for the start of district play with a 49-6 victory over visiting Des Moines North on Friday.

The 10th-ranked Hawks overcame the rainy conditions to build a 35-0 halftime lead and then cruised to the win, which raised their record to 3-1.

“They run a lot of different stuff,” Ankeny quarterback Blaine Hawkins said of the Polar Bears (0-4), who suffered their 28th consecutive loss. “It’s hard to game plan for them, so we just had to go out there and run our stuff.”

Hawkins threw scoring passes of 32 yards to Nate Champagne and 27 yards to Chris McLeod in the first half. Ian Faeth added three rushing touchdowns for the Hawks.

“The first quarter was a really nice quarter for our kids,” said Ankeny coach Rick Nelson. “Then we got some penalties in the second quarter, but I was happy for them that they got a win. We got a lot of kids to play, so that was great.”

Ankeny was coming off an emotional 24-16 win over Ankeny Centennial on Sept. 11. It was the Hawks’ first win against their crosstown rival.

“Our kids were so high after the Centennial game, and then we didn’t practice extremely well on Monday,” Nelson said. “But Tuesday and Wednesday the kids did a nice job. I really like our kids and I really like our quarterback — I think he’s going to win a lot of games for us.”

Hawkins helped the Hawks quickly take control of Friday’s game. They jumped out to a 21-0 lead less than 4 minutes into the first quarter.

“We just had to keep it going — just keep executing and getting our jobs done,” Hawkins said.

Ankeny had two touchdowns erased by penalties in the third quarter before the Hawks finally scored on their third opportunity. Freshman Max Griffin later provided the team’s final touchdown, racing 58 yards to the end zone.

“We got the freshman in, and I think people kind of saw how fast he is,” Nelson said.

North, meanwhile, did not record its initial first down until late in the third quarter. The Polar Bears scored their only touchdown with 5 minutes 54 seconds left in the game.

Ankeny can now turn its attention to district play, which begins on Friday with a huge game at Ames.

“These games are the ones that really matter,” Hawkins said. “We want to win the district again for the second year in a row.”