Hawks land playoff spot with win over EBF

Every card was stacked against us during the game. We were able to rise up. And I was screaming that at them the whole game. I kept telling them to ‘Rise up,’ and they did.”

- Chuck Banks, Central Lee Head Coach

DONNELLSON — The clock on Central Lee’s scoreboard had not reached all zeros, but Chuck Banks couldn’t resist an early celebration.
“Playoffs!” the Hawks’ coach yelled, and soon his players echoed him.
Central Lee’s 17-7 win over Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont on Friday night clinched a spot in the Class 2A playoffs for the Hawks (3-4 overall, 2-2 2A District 6).
A program that didn’t win a game in 2020 and 2021 will have at least one postseason game ahead.
“Oh, it means a lot,” junior Landon Lowenberg said. “We’re the third team in Central history to make the playoffs. We’ve won three games after not winning any the last couple of years. This is great.”
It was only a couple of weeks ago when the Hawks suffered a 51-0 loss at Mid-Prairie. But with last week’s 33-12 win at Davis County, and with this win, Central Lee secured at least fourth place in the district, which means a playoff spot regardless of what happens in next week’s regular-season finale at Centerville.
“We’re a much different squad than what played that Mid-Prairie game,” Banks said. “We had some guys hurt that night, and we got them back. And we never gave up.”
“We have a lot of heart,” junior Cory Jones said. “We don’t give up. We have a lot of confidence in each other.”
But this wasn’t an easy game, and the problems for the Hawks started early in the game.
Senior Corbin Pohren, one of the Hawks’ best players on both sides of the ball, was called for targeting on E-B-F’s first offensive play and was ejected.
But Banks wasn’t about to let his team give up after that.
“Every card was stacked against us during the game,” Banks said. “We were able to rise up. And I was screaming that at them the whole game. I kept telling them to ‘Rise up,’ and they did. You could probably hear me on the sideline yelling that.”
“We’ve got a lot of heart,” Lowenberg said. “We lost our main man, Corbin, and we had to overcome that. We rose to the occasion.”
Central Lee’s first points of the game came right before halftime as Ayden Krehbiel knocked in a 31-yard field goal that just made it inside the left upright for a 3-0 lead.
The Hawks sprinted off the field with confidence after that kick, and kept that momentum going into the second half.
Central Lee scored on the opening possession of the half. Grant Myhre’s 31-yard run set up Chase Johnson’s 13-yard touchdown run two plays later, and the Hawks led 10-0.
The Hawks’ final points came on a 40-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Blake Bergman.
Banks was hoping for the shutout, but the Rockets got a touchdown on Russell McCrea’s 28-yard pass to Kyle Davis with a little over a minute to play.
When the game was over, the Central Lee players began waving over their fellow students for a mass ringing of the victory bell behind the north end zone.
“That was great,” Jones said.
“This means everything,” Banks said.  “Not just personally, but for these boys. This is huge.
“And I love these guys.”