Nickolos Kronemeyer scored ran for two touchdowns and threw for a pair of scores as visiting Hamilton defeated Edwardsburg 42-14 in the opening round of the Division 3 Playoffs Friday night.

Kronemeyer scored on runs of 50 and 7 yards and hit Trenton Haverdink with TD passes of 15 and 11 yards as the Hawks completely dominated the second half of play.

The Hamilton quarterback finished with 124 yards on 15 carries and was 9-of-16 for 130 yards.

“We knew coming into the game his speed was going to give us problems,” Edwardsburg coach Kevin Bartz said. “We were fortunate the first half to have some turnovers. We had a couple of interceptions and made some hits but never found a way to shut him down.”

The Hawks even overcame four turnovers to advance to the Division 3 District championship game in Stevensville against Lakeshore.

After the Eddies got an interception from Jackson Gaideski to stop Hamilton’s initial drive at their own 10-yard line, Edwardsburg went 90 yards in four plays to make it 8-0.

The key play in the drive was a 70-yard run by Dylan Hulett on the Eddies’ first play from scrimmage. Three plays later, Dustin Vires covered the final 15 yards and Jack Bywaters tacked on the 2-point conversion to give Edwardsburg the lead.

Another Hamilton turnover deep in Edwardsburg territory on the Hawks’ next possession gave the Eddies all the momentum. Unfortunately Edwardsburg was unable to do anything with the second turnover thanks to a pair of penalties.

Hamilton took the next possession at its own 47-yard line and took just two plays to cut the lead to 8-7 on a 50-yard run by Kronemeyer.

The scored would remain that way until midway through the second quarter.

Kronemeyer found Trenton Haverdink for at 15-yard touchdown and then connected with Connor McMahon on the 2-point conversion to give the Hawks a 15-8 lead. A lead that Hamilton would never relinquish.

Edwardsburg took the second half opening kickoff and marched 68 yards in four plays to cut the lead to 15-14.

Bywaters picked up 52 yards on back-to-back carries and then Hulett went in from the 10-yard line. The Eddies passed for the 2-point conversion, but it failed.

It was all Hamilton from there.

Kronemeyer scored on a 7-yard run to cap the scoring in the third quarter. In the final 12 minutes, He connected with Haverdink for his second touchdown reception and then Heath Dannenberg completed the scoring with a pair of touchdown runs.

The Hawks finished the night with 447 yards in total offense compared to 321 for the Eddies.

Hulett ended the game with 148 yards on 10 carries.

“Offensively we struggled,” Bartz said. “We came down and got our first score but then we struggled. Going into the second half, we had an opportunity. We came back and made it 15-14 but couldn’t stop them after that.

 

Hamilton 7 8 6 21 – 42

Edwardsburg 8 0 6 0 – 14

E – Dustin Vires 15 run (Jack Bywaters run)

H – Nickolos Kronemeyer 50 run (Brady Zomer kick)

H – Trenton Haverdink 15 pass from Kronemeyer (Kronemeyer pass to Connor McMahon)

E – Dylan Hulett 10 run (pass fails)

H – Kronemeyer 7 run (kick fails)

H – Haverdink 11 pass to from Kronemeyer (Zomer kick)

H – Heath Dannenberg 5 run (Zomer kick)

H – Dannenberg 1 run (Zomer kick)