MENASHA, WI- The Shawano Hawks have qualified for the playoffs three straight seasons for the first time in school history. While last season was not a normal format, Coach Al Tomow says they are counting the short postseason last year as a playoff appearance and win.
“We showed up and did what we needed to do last year and we call that a playoff season since not everybody made it.”
The Hawks would like to add a win under the normal WIAA format, something they have not done in their few appearances to the postseason. To do that, they will have to get past an recent Bay Conference rival Menasha.
“We have been battled tested and we have kids who are experienced varsity players,” Tomow said. “We are healthier than we have been all season and we are excited.”
The Hawks suffered two big blows to start the season. Senior Wide Receiver Elliot Lowney and Senior Running Back Andrew Popp both suffered collarbone injuries in Week 1 at Denmark. Lowney came into the season as one of the top receivers in the State and had high hopes for his final year.”
“When those guys went down, it changed things,” Tomow said. “Last week was really the first time we felt at full strength. “Fox Valley Lutheran was a nice statement for us because that was the team that we were expecting to have all season, it took 9 games to get there. “We have no excuses, we have everyone available to us and this is the time.”
While some have Menasha favored to go deep and possibly win it all in Division 3, Tomow says they have not played the toughest competition this year, but they are still a force.
“We like the draw and I think people want to remember the Menasha teams that played at state or the teams that we played in the Bay Conference, and no matter what the year, they still come out the same, they know how to win and they have been there before.”
For Shawano, the goal was to better their record from years past and that did not quite fall into place this year, but Tomow said just being one of the 224 teams playing Friday is always an accomplishment.
“We just wanted the chance to keep playing. We have been playing playoff games the last four weeks as every game was important for our playoff chances. We were just one or two plays away in quite a few games from having things go the other way for us.”
Menasha likes to keep the ball on the ground. Davontre Smith has 1070 yards rushing with 17 touchdowns and averages over 10 yards a carry. The other leading rusher is the quarterback AJ Korth who comes in with 1064 yards and 15 rushing touchdowns.
“We have a good feel for what they are going to do on both sides of the ball and we think we have found a few things that we can take advantage of.”
Korth has 1105 passing yards and 16 touchdowns as the Bluejays have shown a duel threat offensively.
“They block well up front and they are sound in how they tackle and pursue the football, but we have some good players too.”
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