September 21, 2024
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Hiawatha strikes first but falls to South Beloit

By Shaw Local News Network
Hiawatha's Jayden Gray celebrates after hauling in a touchdown pass behind the South Beloit defense during their game Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, at Hiawatha High School in Kirkland.

Hiawatha's Jayden Gray celebrates after hauling in a touchdown pass behind the South Beloit defense during their game Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, at Hiawatha High School in Kirkland. (Mark Busch)

Hiawatha scored first, but South Beloit scored 30 unanswered in a 30-6 win over the Hawks on Friday.

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Aiden Cooper had a 37-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Gray to stake the Hawks (1-3) to a 6-0 lead in the contest. They had a chance to build the lead, but the Sobos returned an interception for the lead and never looked back.

“That was a dagger,” Hiawatha coach Kenny McPeek said. “We kind of had momentum and everything and the QB threw a different route than we called, and it went right to their guy and he took it in for a touchdown. Small mistakes lead to big problems.”

Hiawatha's Tim Pruitt breaks up the pass intended for South Beloit's Kaden Cook during their game Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, at Hiawatha High School in Kirkland.

Hiawatha's Tim Pruitt breaks up the pass intended for South Beloit's Kaden Cook during their game Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, at Hiawatha High School in Kirkland. (Mark Busch)

It was the third straight loss for the Hawks after a 6-0 overtime win to start the season at Rockford Christian Life. South Beloit picked up their third straight win after losing their season opener.

The Hawks trailed 16-6 at halftime and that was with multiple starters missing on both side of the ball according to McPeek.

“The kids played hard, I can’t complain about the effort at all,” McPeek said. “South Beloit has a lot of size and toward the end of the third into the fourth they really wore us down. But our defense was really good tonight, especially in the first half.”