Hakamaki Leads Cardinals Past Bulldogs

Tyler Peterson-NSO

Photos by: Marianne Pierson

The Cromwell Cardinals had a big day from their senior halfback, Tyler Hakamaki, as he scored three times to lead the Cardinals to the 35-0 win over the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs had a rough start from the beginning, going 3 and out and then snapping the ball over the punters head to set up the Cardinals at the 18 yard line. Just a few plays later, Eli Warpula would punch it into the end zone from 3 yards out to get the scoring starting. Zion Smith connected with Austin Pfisthner for the 2 point conversion to put the Cardinals up 8-0.

On the kickoff, the Cardinals showed some trickery, onside kicking it and recovering. On the next play, Smith connected with Alek Striowski for a 49 yard touchdown to put them up 14-0. After that, the Bulldogs buckled down on defense, forcing three consecutive 4 and outs on the Cardinals. Bulldogs Dominic Bennett rallied off 4 consecutive runs for around 50 yards, but the Cardinals defense would force another punt from the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs would continue to be tough and gritty on defense before giving up a late touchdown in the 2nd quarter to Tyler Hakamaki from 10 yards out. Smith put the 2 point conversion into the end zone to give the Cardinals the 22-0 lead going into the half.

In the second half, Hakamaki did what he is custom to, returning the kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown to put the Cardinals up 28-0 early in the second half. On the Bulldogs next possession, Bennett fumbled and Hakamaki recovered it to give the Cardinals the ball back. The Cardinals wouldn’t be able to capitalize in their red zone however, as senior Cade Pierson picked the Cardinals off on the 1 yard line to keep the score at 22-0.

The Bulldogs would be forced to punt once again, and on the next possession for the Cardinals, none other than Tyler Hakamaki found the end zone again, this time on a 40 yard touchdown, breaking several tackles on his way to the end zone, giving the Cardinals the 35-0 lead. The Bulldogs would play tough defense throughout the evening, shutting the Cardinals out for the final 17 minutes of the game, but turnovers would be a killer as Carlton turned the ball over a whopping 5 times, with 4 of them coming in the second half.

The Cardinals improve to 3-0 on the season and will look to continue their streak on September 19th when they host the Floodwood Polar Bears (2-1). The Bulldogs drop to 0-3 and will look for their first win against Isle (2-1) at home on the 19th.

Game Summary:

Carlton         0-0-0-0—0

Cromwell  14-8-13-0—35

Crom — Eli Warpula 3 run (Zion Smith pass to Austin Pfisthner)

Crom — Alek Striowski 49 yard pass from Smith (kick no good)

Crom — Tyler Hakamaki 10 run (Smith run)

Crom — Hakamaki 80 kickoff return (2pt no good)

Crom — Hakamaki 34 run (Sawyer Strelnieks kick)

Tyler Peterson can be contacted at tpeterson@northlandsportsonline.com