Hawks find small wins in midst of losing skid

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BY JOHN BOHNENKAMP
PCC SPORTS

DONNELLSON -A 10-game losing streak means sometimes looking for little victories here and there.
Central Lee’s 66-7 defeat to Cardinal on a rainy Friday night added to a streak that is in its second season.
It can be a search, then, for the positives. Like when the Hawks got their only touchdown of the night — a 27-yard pass from Bryce Finney to Cory Jones in the second quarter.
As Jones raced to the sideline, head coach Chuck Banks leaped to chest-bump Jones.
“I knocked him over, kind of,” Jones said, smiling.
Little things can be big in the long run.
“I see it as a win within a loss,” Jones said of the touchdown. “You definitely have wins. Whenever you have a losing streak like we’ve had, it’s tough. We have to coach our kids up, and be positive with them.”
The Hawks (0-2), though, suffered from what Banks said was “compound interest” — mistakes that kept adding up against the Comets (2-0), who have scored 136 points in their first two games.
“When something goes bad, you can’t add to that,” Banks said. “With the losing streak … I want to win so bad with this group.”
Cardinal’s first three scoring drives lasted a combined nine plays. Central Lee, meanwhile, could get little going offensively — the Hawks finished the game with only 54 yards of offense for the game.
“The culture’s there,” Banks said. “It’s about having something positive at the beginning of the game. If we start better, I guarantee we’ll finish better.”
Finney, a senior, took over for freshman Kayden Calfee in the first half and had the Hawks’ only pass completions of the game.
“I thought it was a tall task for a freshman quarterback coming in,” Banks said. “Calfee is going to be good over time. But Bryce was able to come in, do some good things. He left it all out on the field. (That touchdown) was absolutely huge. Having Bryce do that, it was magical.”
Calfee threw for 55 yards on 3-of-10 passing, all completions to Jones. Chase Johnson was the leading rusher with eight yards.
“As far as understanding the game philosophy, management, things like that, I did (see improvement),” said Banks. “We just have to keep working. I know this streak has been hard on the guys, but we have to keep working to get better.”

Cardinal, Central Lee High School, football, hawks, Pen City Current, sports

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