DANVILLE – North Mahaska’s twin rushing attack and punishing offensive line allowed the Warhawks to pull away in the second half for a 25-0 Class A substate football victory Wednesday. The win sets up a rematch Monday with the state’s top-ranked team, North Tama. North Tama defeated North Mahaska the last game of the regular season, 7-0.

Seniors Cody Van Donselaar and Joe Agan teamed for 275 of North Mahaska’s 370 total yards. Van Donselaar rushed for 155 yards on 17 carries and scored twice. Agan was unable to find the end zone, but toted the ball 21 times for 120 yards. His ninth carry took him over the 1,000 yard mark for the season.

North Mahaska led 10-0 in a penalty-plagued first half. In the second half the team turned the game around. Mahaska coach Steve Ehret said his team’s hard-nosed approach led to the victory.

“We play blue-collar football,” said Ehret. “They ran hard tonight. We came out and played better in the second half. Danville played hard and did a lot of nice things against us.”

North Mahaska, 8-2, limited Danville to just 11 yards of offense in the first half and 101 for the game.

“Our defense has been playing well all year,” said Ehret. “I have to credit coach (Jeff) Beener and coach (Jack) Smith for getting them ready.”

The penalties kept Mahaska out of the end zone in the first quarter. In the second they marched down the field, but the drive stalled and had to settle for a 22-yard field goal from Chez McBirnie. Following the kick off, Senior Jake Silk fell on a Danville fumble and set the Warhawks up again at the Danville 21-yard line. Five plays later Dylan Boyle bounced in from the 8-yard line for the score. McBirnie’s kick gave the Warhawks a 10-0 lead at half.

In the third quarter North Mahaska sandwiched a four-play Danville drive with two long drives of their own taking nearly half the quarter before Van Donselaar scored and the Warhawk scoring machine began to work.

Van Donselaar opened the fourth quarter with a 32-yard touchdown. The drive was aided by runs by Agan and catches by Lake and Shane Schultz.

Danville quarterback Taylor Fraise threw for 73 yards and one interception. Two of the passes amounted for the bulk of those yards, but resulted in no damage. Late in the game he hit Adam Brown on a 39-yard strike into triple coverage. Danville made a last desperate attempt to score, but Kody Lake picked off the pass with a handful of seconds left to play securing the shutout.

North Mahaska 25, Danville 0

NM 0 10 9 6 - 25

Dan 0 0 0 0 - 0

Scoring:

2Q, 5:33 — Chez McBirnie, 22 field goal.