Hawks miscues lead to Albia shut out

DONNELLSON — Albia’s 30-0 win over Central Lee on Friday night was a lesson in a lot of ways for the Hawks.
The defeat, Central Lee coach Doug Dodds said, was “self-inflicted,” and with next Friday’s game at Fort Madison and then the opening of district play the next week looming, the Hawks have to clean up the little things as quickly as possible.
“This was a frustrating one, because ultimately, we beat ourselves,” Dodds said. “We didn't take care of the ball. We made too many mistakes — penalties, turnovers, miscues on special teams. We can’t do that.”
The Hawks’ 28-8 win over Van Buren County last week was all about the conversion of takeaways. This time, Albia did the taking.
A blocked punt on Central Lee’s first possession led to the Blue Demons’ first touchdown. A Central Lee fumble was recovered in the end zone early in the second quarter for Albia’s second score. A long punt return set up the Blue Demons’ third score of the first half.
"We can’t beat ourselves like that,” Dodds said. “It was the opposite of last week, when we were clean and did the right things.”
It looked like the Hawks (1-1) made an early statement when they stopped Albia (1-1) on fourth down at the Central Lee 37-yard line. Central Lee went three-and-out, then Albia’s Kinnyck Purdy smothered a punt and recovered it at the Hawks’ 19-yard line. Two plays later, Albia quarterback Gage Chance flipped a short pass to motioning receiver Beau Buckingham, who raced left and made it to the end zone. Chance threw a two-point conversion pass to Isaac Helm for an 8-0 lead.
Central Lee’s Brett Cook stopped an Albia drive deep into Hawk territory with an interception at the 8-yard line. But two plays later, a missed exchange on a handoff landed in the end zone, where Albia’s Aiden Keegel recovered it for the touchdown. Chance’s two-point conversion run pushed the lead to 16-0.
Chance’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Buckingham, followed by a two-point conversion pass to Tavian La Rue, gave Albia a 24-0 halftime lead.
Central Lee did have an excellent chance to score off a takeaway early in the second half, when a muffed punt popped into Cook’s hands at the Albia 12-yard line. But the Hawks could only get four yards on three plays, and Cook’s fourth-down pass into the end zone was incomplete.
“If we get some points there, that would have been big,” Dodds said.
Albia closed the scoring with a 22-yard pass from Chance to Ty Pickerell with one minute left in the third quarter.
Albia outgained the Hawks 287-78.
Central Lee was familiar with the Blue Demons, having played them in the district the last two seasons.
“These guys are good,” Dodds said. “They're a good litmus test for who we are. We know we’ve got to control the line of scrimmage, and we didn't tonight. They’re a good football team. That's why we wanted to play him in non-district (play).. We wanted to make sure we're getting better, and hopefully tonight we're going to get away from here, and we're going to realize that this is what we’ve got to work on, and we got to do better.
“We’ve got Fort Madison next week. They’re a good team. So this is a big week for us, because district play is coming up and we’ve got to be ready.”