Ewoniuk rushes for 308 yards, 3 TDs as No. 2-ranked Cougars get past No. 5 Hazen

• Seth Ewoniuk

Press Photo by Royal McGregor Heart River senior running back Seth Ewoniuk, left, runs past Hazen sophomore Seth Kreil, right, on Friday night during a Class 1A, Region 4 football game in Belfield.

Talk about it

BELFIELD — Heart River’s Seth Ewoniuk was crowned Belfield’s homecoming king during halftime, but that was the least of his worries.

Ewoniuk ripped off two touchdown runs in the second half to lead the No. 2-ranked Cougars over No. 5-ranked Hazen 28-20 in a Class 1A, Region 4 game on Friday.

The senior rushed for a career-high 308 yards and three touchdowns on 31 carries.

“It still hasn’t soaked in yet, even 15 minutes after the game,” Ewoniuk said. “I still don’t believe it. Hats off to Hazen, they’re a really good team.”

At halftime, Heart River (4-0, 3-0 Region 4) held a 7-6 lead as the homecoming king and queen were announced. Ewoniuk and South Heart’s homecoming king Cole Hecker — both schools in the co-op had homecoming kings — were visibly anxious to get back to the sideline.

“Football is my everything,” Ewoniuk said. “Homecoming king is nice, but I wanted the W tonight.”

Hecker added 13 carries for 54 yards, while senior fullback Cole Hlebechuk supplied four carries for 10 yards and a late fourth-quarter TD that put the Cougars’ victory in the bag.

“I’m sure there was probably one stretch there, where he (Ewoniuk) ran six to seven times in a row,” Heart River head coach Dave Hendrickson said. “He had an excellent game.”

Hazen’s Stetson Carr did all that he could to win. The senior quarterback had 14 carries for 142 yards and two TDs while completing eight passes for 146 yards and a TD.

“You talk about the ultimate leader,” Hazen head coach Rick Philion said. “We’re missing kids and he’s putting the team on his shoulders. To the kid’s credit, they are following him.”

The lone mistake Carr made was with 13 seconds left in the game when the Bison (2-2, 2-1 Region 4) were down 28-20. He scrambled around looking for an open receiver, but his pass fell out of hands of his receiver and Seth Obritsch was there to make the interception.

“Stetson is a real player,” said Ewoniuk, who ran 10 of the Cougars’ 13 plays in the fourth quarter. “We just tried to contain him as much as we could. He made his passes, he made runs, but we ended up with the win tonight.”

Ewoniuk ripped Hazen’s defense for TD runs of 45, 11 and 60 yards. Hlebechuk ran in the final one-yard TD with 1:36 left in the game.

“They’re a damn good football team,” Philion said. “It’s hard to defend that speed. I’m very proud with the way our kids played.”

With the win, Heart River moves one step closer to gaining home-field advantage. Hendrickson said there’s still a lot of football to play until that point.

“It’s a big ball game,” he said. “If you can get some luck and win some more games, winning was a big stepping stone for home-field advantage.”

For box score, see Scoreboard on Page B2.

Hazen 6 0 8 6 — 20

HR 7 0 14 7 — 28

First quarter

HR–Seth Ewoniuk 45 run (Mitch Krebs kick), 9:07.

H–Stetson Carr 64 run (run failed), 8:30.

Second quarter

No scoring.

Third quarter

HR–Ewoniuk 11 run (Krebs kick), 5:59.

H–Nate Leintz 21 pass from Carr (Leintz pass from Carr good), 2:48.

HR–Ewoniuk 60 run (Krebs kick), :01.

Fourth quarter

H–Carr 1 run (run failed), 8:31.

HR–Cole Hlebechuk 1 run (Krebs kick), 1:36.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Hazen, Stetson Carr 14-142. HR, Seth Ewoniuk 31-308, Cole Hecker 13-54, Hlebechuk 4-10.

PASSING: Hazen, Carr 8-24-1, 146. HR, Tyson Kudrna 5-8-0, 37.

RECEIVING: Hazen, Tyler Wasem 2-17, Starley Sommer 1-32, Dominick Opp 1-35, Connor Doll 1-21, Nate Leintz 1-21, Josh Erhardt 1-11.

Tags: high school football, heart river cougars, hazen bison, sports, football, preps