Offenses on Display as Hustlin' Hawks Clip Falcons

It took both the and football teams’ offenses about a half to really start clicking, but once they did, they showed they are two of the best at doing what they do.

In the end, the Hustlin’ Hawks proved to be a bit better.

With four players rushing for 65 yards or more and each of them scoring at least one touchdown, the Hawks defeated the host Falcons, 39-34, Friday.

The victory gave Greenfield its fifth win in its last seven games dating back to last season. The Hawks improved to 3-1 in the Woodland Conference Black Division and 3-2 overall.

Greenfield is one game behind first-place Greendale – the teams meet next week at Greenfield – and just one win away from qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

“We’re in a great place,” Greenfield coach Scott Otto said. “It’s a huge win for us. It’s a crosstown rival and they were undefeated (in conference) this week. We knocked off a 4-0 team (South Milwaukee) last week and a 3-0 team this week. We’re playing good football teams and winning games.”

The Falcons slipped into a second-place tie with the Hawks at 3-1 in league play and 3-2 overall.

“We played a good football team tonight,” Whitnall coach Rob Leboeuf said. “In my opinion, they’re going to give people a run for their money from here on out. They two-platoon, they’re healthy they have a mammoth offensive line that gets nasty and gets after you.”

The Hawks scored 25 second-half points on tremendous rushing efforts by running backs Bathong Pham, Andy Lucas and Zach Truss. Lucas finished with a game-high 123 yards, including 89 in the second half.

Truss scored two second-half touchdowns, including one that gave his team a 33-13 lead with 9 minutes, 41 seconds remaining.

Pham had two second-half TDs as well, including an impressive 46-yard jaunt late in the third quarter.

After the Hawks took their 33-13 lead, the Falcons picked up the pace, led by senior quarterback Luke Mentkowski and junior receiver Sam Mentkowski.

Sam Mentkowski hauled in 10 of his game-high 13 catches after intermission, accumulating 174 of his career-high 214 yards. He grabbed a 45-yard TD pass in the third quarter and had a 49-yard catch on a two-play, third-quarter drive capped by Travis Karweik’s 22-yard TD run that made it 33-20.

Greenfield took a 39-20 lead on Pham’s second TD run of the half, a 4-yard pickup, but Whitnall marched right down the field and scored on Luke Mentkowski’s 2-yard pass to tight end Michael Bonin. The two-point conversion narrowed Greenfield’s lead to 39-28.

Whitnall recovered the onside kick with 3:49 remaining, but turned the ball over on downs. The Falcons forced Greenfield to turn it over on downs with 1:30 left and scored one last touchdown but did not leave themselves enough time to get the ball back and score again.

Luke Mentkowski finished 31 for 46 for 361 yards and four touchdowns.

Whitnall squandered two first-half scoring opportunities that wound up costing them, failing to convert a first-and-goal from the 1 on their first possession of the game and fumbling a hand-off at the 9 on their final possession of the first half.

“That’s not paying attention to details,” Leboeuf said. “They think because they’ve done it 18 million times they’re going to be perfect at it. Well, they have to practice it perfect it all the time to get it perfect when it counts. Tonight it killed us. We left a lot of points on the field. Unacceptable. I’m not happy.

“The entire first half was a debacle. Our minds were not on the game in the first half.”