Unbeaten Silver Eagles top Chargers
Aaron Clinton-Earl finished with 219 yards rushing, and Sussex Hamilton gave unbeaten Monona Grove its toughest challenge of the season, but Hamilton fell to the host Silver Eagles on Tuesday, 40-19.
The Chargers finished their year 7-3 after the loss in the opening round of the WIAA Division 2 playoffs.
Three turnovers in the first half led to 20 Monona Grove points, and the Chargers never drew even before the second-seeded squad put the game out of reach.
"Every team is good in the playoffs," said Hamilton coach John Damato. "I don't care what your seed is or your ranking. If you turn the ball over, it's going to haunt you. The last two games, we haven't turned the ball over and have been plus-5 (in turnover ration). It's hard to win when you're in the negatives."
A bad Hamilton snap on fourth down led to a blocked punt, giving the Silver Eagles possession inside the Chargers' 5-yard line, leading to the first points of the game. Hamilton answered with a 15-yard run by quarterback Dan Jaskolski to tie the score at 7-7, but Hamilton fumbled twice more to set up Silver Eagles scores.
Clinton-Earl scored to pull the Chargers within 20-13 early in the second half, and he later added a second touchdown, but Monona Grove pulled away in the final 24 minutes.
"He's a special player, one of the best I've coached and quite possibly the best running back to come out of Hamilton," Damato said of Clinton-Earl. "He will be missed, and he ran his tail off tonight. He was the catalyst for our offense and I couldn't be more proud of how he ended his career."
Monona Grove's touchdowns in the second half were the result of sustained drives, as Hamilton didn't commit a second-half giveaway.
"I don't know what their success rate was on third down, but it had to be over 70 percent," Damato said. "They had a couple third down strikes and a coules backbreakers. Just when you think you've got them where you want them, they end up converting. They're a well-coached team with fine athletes and they made some plays."
Monona Grove (10-0) allowed only 13 points during the nine games of the regular season.
Senior Mike Kelty sustained a knee injury but battled back to finish the game. Damato also credited senior linemen Dave Tran and Nick Ferschl.
"The senior class in general is a unique group," Damato said. "They have a big heart and great character and it's great what they left the Hamilton program with."
E-mail Newsletter
Top stories from the Lake Country area. Tuesday afternoons and Thursday mornings.
Enter your e-mail address above and click "Sign Up Now!" to begin receiving your e-mail newsletter
Get the Newsletter!
MORE: See full gallery
SUBMIT: Post Your Photos now
Do you have news or a nonprofit event that you would like to share with the community? Whether it's a community organization, a business, a local school, or a notable neighbor, we'd love to hear about it.
- MainStage Dancers Perform at OAC May 26th
- FREE Organic Lawn Care Workshops This Saturday!
- Little Treasures Launches Summer Camp June 10-August 30th, 2013
- Hamilton announces April students of the month
- Learn to skate
- Christ the King Church Announces Vacation Bible School Schedule
- Birth to 3 Walk on June 1st Frame Park
- Waukesha County HeartChase is June 22
MORE: See the rest of Your Stories
SUBMIT: Post Your Story now
Lake Country residents share their views on news, happenings and current events.
LivingLakeCountry.com features more than a dozen community bloggers - a group of volunteer conversation leaders who are up on the latest topics and never short on an opinion. Just a few are pictured here. Check out the rest and see what they have to say!
View All Blogs
Discussion Guidelines
Do you want to become a Community Blogger? LivingLakeCountry.com welcomes your thoughts and opinions. Contact us for more information:
I want to blog
Information on Mukwonago Publications
Find metroparent locations
We encourage your comments but will strive to remove discussion that contains personal attacks, racial slurs, profanity or other inappropriate material as outlined in our guidelines. We post-moderate comments on most content, but may choose to pre-moderate some comments so please be patient if you don't see yours appear right way. We also ask for your help by reporting comments you think are inappropriate.
Please login or register to post a comment.