Cardinals Football Trounced by Hawley

The scoreboard at the Hawley Athletic Complex was off during the first half of Friday night’s football game between the Nuggets and Staples-Motley Cardinals.

Good thing, too, because S-M did not need another reminder of just how bad the first 24 minutes were.

The Cardinals were out of the game from the first play, a fumbled exchange.

Meanwhile, Hawley opened up its offense, remained disciplined on defense and celebrated a 51-0 victory on its home turf like it was a town street dance.

Losers of 13 straight, the Cardinals double wing offense couldn’t get in sync.

They almost had as many lost fumbles (three) as first downs (five) and were shutout for the first time since Oct. 10, 2008, a span of 30 games. At halftime, Staples-Motley trailed 41-0.

As has been customary during the losing streak, big plays ate up the defense like Joey Chestnut with hot dogs.

Hawley matched the seven plays of 20-plus yards Pequot Lakes recorded against the Cardinals last week.

It was a group effort.

Hawley’s quarterback tandem did the most damage, passing for, rushing and receiving at least one touchdown each.

Jordan Harms finished 4-of-5 for 65 yards and two touchdowns. He also hauled in deep pass and turned it into a 43-yard score and found the end zone from 7-yards out on a keeper in the third quarter.

Ben Ellefson caught four balls for 65 yards and two TDs, rushed for another touchdown to go with 36 ground yards and netted 64 yards through the air on 3-of-4 passing.  

Alex Ames rushed for two scores and 98 yards.  

Even the backups signed their names in support of the cause for the now 2-0 Nuggets, which have won all 10 regular season games since joining the Heart O’ Lakes Conference last year.

Hawley finished with 487 total yards; Staples-Motley had 77 on 40 plays.

Kyle Jansson completed zero passes on six attempts. He threw the ball well, but his receivers couldn’t hang on.

Mike Beach was one of the lone bright spots for Staples. The senior collected 50 yards — nearly two-thirds of the team’s total offense — but was limited to 10 touches.

Notes: Jacob Swensrud, Brady Becker and Tyler Winkels, among others, made their varsity debuts. Seeing the field this early in their careers should only help with their future development.

Up next: Staples-Motley plays Warroad in its home opener Friday, Sept. 14. Kickoff is set for 6:00 p.m.