Hawks set for tough district again

DONNELLSON – If last Friday’s scrimmage with Wapello is any indication on how Central Lee will look on the field this year, the Hawks are going to be competitive week in and week out.
Senior quarterback Brett Cook looked in total control of the offense with some veteran slight of hand on read options and a good control of the passing game.
The Indians and Hawks rolled through some line and 7-on-7 drills before going live for about an hour Friday at the Hawks’ field in Central Lee.
On the second live play, junior Johnny Seyb slipped through the line behind a block from senior Baylor Ferreira, a 2025-26 state qualifying wrestler at heavyweight, and sprinted about 70 yards to the endzone. On the first live play, a bobbled snap resulted in a 6-yard loss.
Cook also ran with Seyb on another scoring play where the read didn’t happen until they were into the line where Cook pulled the ball back from Seyb and slipped into the secondary for another long score.
Head Coach Doug Dodds said Cook has matured over his four years and the Hawks will need that as they open the season Friday night at Van Buren.
“He just has played a lot of football,” Dodds said of his senior signal caller and and outside linebacker.
“He knows his reads and and it's exciting to see that. Brett focuses in practice and he focuses on the game, and he knows his position and a lot of other positions, too.”
Cook said this will be his second full year at quarterback after transition from wide out following his sophomore year. He said the two years under Dodds’ system has given him the tools to be successful this season.
“It's just experience. This is my second year under this offense and, when you do it all four years including practices, it just becomes the thing you get used to and then when you're used to it, you start playing better. And now we can start doing more things and testing more things and start succeeding,” Cook said.
A good portion of the Hawks’ top 15 will play both sides of the football and Cook said this year there’s a lot of downhill running and flying to the football.
We’ve got a lot of ball hawks out there and guys that aren't afraid to tackle and go downhill. They run hard and they tackle hard,” he said.
Dodds said the Hawks are in a tough district, but if they take care of the things they need to for four full quarters, good things are going to happen based on what he’s seen to this point.

“I think we've had some good practices this year. We come out here tonight and see there's a lot of things we're going to have to clean up, execution-wise."
He said the interior of the offense and defense is playing consistent football thus far.
“They do what they’re supposed to do. That’s another group of guys that we think we can count on. Baylor, Wyatt (Day), Jack (Benner) those are three seniors that I think are going to be three-year starters this year, so they played a bunch of football and they know the system.
Two other seniors, Andrew Figge and Lucas Clark, will be helping shore up the interior play for the Hawks. Brody Ruffcorn will be grabbing some snaps as a sophomore.
The Hawks arguably play in the toughest 2A district in the state, District 6, with 2025 state qualifiers Mediapolis, Wilton, West Liberty, and Mid-Prairie all in the district. Wilton fell to eventual state champion Kuemper Catholic in the semifinals.  West Burlington is also in the district. The Hawks went 0-5 in District play, but were 2-6 overall.
“We got a tough district and we're not going to lie about that. But again, we saw last year that when we do our thing and take care of ourselves, we compete,” Dodds said.
“It was 7-0 and we were almost ready to score versus Mid-Prairie in the first quarter last year and then we went up to Wilton, a state semifinal team, and I think it was 16-7 at the end of the third quarter.
“We know how we can play. We just gotta make sure we execute all the time. You can't just have highs and lows, we gotta make sure we play at that high level.”
Ferreira said the defense success will come down to making plays and communicating.
“I just gotta listen to what the backers say and fill the gaps and go where I’m supposed to go,” he said.
“Our offense has gotten better. Wyatt is an amazing guard and we’ve got some good people there. I want us to do better than last year. I plan on giving it my all every single time out there. I don’t want my career to end on a crappy season.
The Hawks will rotate the backfield with juniors Luke Kruse and Adam Bagan seeing time with Seyb. Cook will look to throw out of the backfield and on deeper routes with Evan Fogarty, Liam Crank, Colten Haigh, Tristan Robins, and Kelton Hetrick on the sides.
Van Buren hosts Friday’s game after a 3-4 season in 2025 playing in Class A District 5.