MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (Aug. 22–29)
PREP FOOTBALL: D5 #3 Prairie du Chien 21, D6 #4 Darlington 19

By Derick Kelly, The Courier Press

Visiting Blackhawks holds off late Redbirds rally for 21–19 non-conference win

DARLINGTON — Week 2 of the 2023 WIAA high school football season was highlighted by several intriguing non-conference games around the state, including the winner of the Kwik Trip/Wisconsin Dairy Game of the Week vote on Wissports.net, Division 5’s third ranked Prairie du Chien Blackhawks at Division 6’s fourth ranked Darlington Redbirds, and the game lived up to the hype.

The visiting Blackhawks built a 21–7 lead entering the fourth quarter, but had to stop the Redbirds' 2-point conversion with 1:11 remaining to escape with thrilling a 21–19 victory.

After a scoreless first quarter, and nearly a scoreless second quarter as well, the Hawks got on the scoreboard first thanks to a 43-yard touchdown pass from Abe Amundson to Blake Thiry with 1:59 left before halftime. Xavier DeHart kicked the successful extra point to make the score 7-0 in favor of PdC.

The momentum tide really swung the Hawks early in the third quarter as the Prairie defense forced a Redbirds three-and-out on the opening drive of the second half before Hawks lineman Keagan Dull managed to get his hands on the Darlington punt, blocking the punt attempt on the Redbirds own 38 yard line before Thiry scooped up the loose ball and ran it back for his and the Hawks second touchdown of the game. Darlington’s defense got one back on Prairie by blocking DeHart’s extra point attempt to keep the score 13–0 in favor of PdC.

The Hawks defense then forced the Redbirds offense to punt again after another three-and-out. PdC’s offense took over on their own 43 yard line and marched down the field to the Darlington red zone where Drew Hird scored his first touchdown of the season on an eight-yard touchdown run that was capped off by a successful two-point conversion run by Thiry to make the score 21–0 in favor of the Blackhawks with 3:23 left in the third quarter.

It was Darlington’s turn to get their offense rolling and they did as they marched down the field while eating up the rest of the third quarter. On the first play of the fourth quarter, the Redbirds got on the scoreboard with a 2-yard touchdown run. The extra point attempt was good and the score stood at 21–7. The Redbirds then successfully recovered an on-side kick before scoring again just three plays later. Dull blocked the Redbirds extra point attempt to keep the score 21–13 in favor of the Blackhawks, which would later turn out to be a very important play in the game.

The Hawks and Redbirds would spend the next couple of possessions exchanging interceptions before the Hawks punted with 3:33 left in the fourth quarter to give the Redbirds the ball back on their 45 yard line. Darlington marched down the field and on a 4th and goal from PdC’s 3 yard line with 1:11 left in the game, scored to bring the Redbirds within two at 21–19. However, the Hawks defense stopped the two-point conversion attempt and recovered the subsequent on-side kick attempt to extinguish the Redbirds attempt to send the game to overtime as the Hawks kneeled out the rest of the clock to seal the game for the Hawks.

Amundson completed 3 of 11 passes for 74 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception with all three completions going to Thiry. Hird ran 13 times for 63 yards and 1  touchdown to lead the Hawks rushing attack with Bryce Lenzendorf (5 attempts for 49 yards) and Thiry (8 attempts for 29 yards) rounding out the rushing stats.

Next up for the Hawks is the start of conference play on Friday, Sept. 1 as they welcome the 2-0 Lancaster Flying Arrows to town for Hall of Fame Night as Larry Yeomans (athlete), Terry Kramer (athlete), 1959 Boys Track (team), and PdC Pep Band Director Matt Lenz (community member) will be celebrated for their contributions over the years to Prairie du Chien High School Athletics.

Prairie du Chien 21, Darlington 19
(from Friday, Aug. 25 @ Darlington)
Prairie du Chien....0 7 14  0 — 21
Darlington...............0 0  0 19 — 19
Second quarter
PdC: Blake Thiry 43yd pass from Abe Amundson (Xander DeHart PAT good), 1:59, 0-7
Third quarter
PdC: Blake Thiry blocked kick return 30yds (DeHart PAT failed), 9:49, 0-13
PdC: Drew Hird 8yd rush (Thiry 2pt rush good), 3:23, 0-21
Fourth quarter
D: Tye Crist 2yd rush (Denilo Ramos-Godoy PAT good), 11:56, 7-21
D: Maddox Goebel 35yd pass from Reagan Jackson (Ramos-Godoy PAT failed), 10:52, 13-21
D: Will Murray 3yd pass from Jackson (T. Crist 2pt rush failed), 1:11, 19-21
Team Statistics
First downs — PdC: 9; D: 11. Rushing — PdC: 30-135, D: 36-65. Passing (comp-att-int, yds-td) — PdC: 4-12-1, 75-1; D: 11-19-1, 214-2. Fumbles–lost — PdC: 1-1, D: 0-0. Penalties-yards — PdC: 5-25, D: 6-40. 
Individual Leaders
Rushing — PdC: Hird 13-63 (1TD); D: T. Crist 17-46 (1TD). Passing — PdC: Amundson 4-12-1, 75-1; D: Jackson 9-17-1, 188-2. Receiving — PdC: Thiry 4-75 (1TD); D: M. Goebel 3-96 (1TD), T. Crist 4-89.