Shawano football team caps strong season with convincing win

Lowneys, Timm account for all of Hawks’ points
By: 
Morgan Rode
Sports Editor

The Shawano Community High School football team capped an strong season with a 46-14 victory over Seymour in a Division 2 playoff game Thursday in Shawano.

The Shawano trio of seniors Gage Timm and Kaleb Lowney and junior Elliott Lowney accounted for all of the host’s points to help the team finish off a 6-3 season.

“Like coach (Alan Tomow) said, two years ago we were 1-8 and we knew we had to build off of that. Being able to win the first playoff games in school history, that’s something special,” said Kaleb Lowney.

Shawano had not earned a playoff win in its previous four postseason berths.

It took the Hawks’ offense a little while to get rolling, only scoring once on their first three drives, but once it did, they put up points in a hurry.

On its second offensive possession of the game, Shawano was given great field position after Seymour bobbled the snap on a punt and couldn’t get a kick away.

The Hawks ran the ball six straight plays to drive 30 yards for the game’s first score. Kaleb Lowney got the team inside the 15 before Timm ran it three straight times, the last being a 2-yard touchdown run. Timm hit Elliott Lowney for a successful two-point conversion pass.

A couple possessions later, Shawano’s offense constructed a nine-play, 95-yard drive to extend its lead. Timm and Kaleb Lowney did the heavy lifting on the drive, with Lowney finishing it off on a 5-yard run. Timm converted the two-point conversion on a run.

After the host’s defense forced another punt, Shawano’s offense wasted little time finding the end zone again. This time, Timm delivered a perfect deep ball to Elliott Lowney, who caught it in stride and sprinted his way to a 70-yard score. Kaleb Lowney ran in for the two-point conversion.

Just when it appeared that Shawano would run away with the game, Seymour put together a scoring drive right before halftime, throwing a touchdown pass with just over a second left on the clock.

Seymour started the second half with the ball and tried to draw closer, but a pair of sacks by senior Trace Yeager helped Shawano’s defense eventually force a punt.

Just two plays into the ensuing drive, Timm and Elliott Lowney connected again, this time on a 64-yard pass that was tipped by the defender before Lowney caught it and coasted into the end zone.

“It’s just an amazing feeling knowing that I got people that are going to make plays on the football, like I don’t have to make the perfect pass every time,” said Timm of what’s its like when the offense starts clicking. “Having a running back who can bust open runs whenever he needs to, an offensive line that holds up protection against almost any team that we played. We haven’t had many struggles offensively, we always have been able to keep going.”

In its nine games, Shawano scored over 40 points five times. All of those 40-plus point games came in wins, with the lone win not eclipsing 40 points coming in the team’s season-opening win over Seymour back on Sept. 25. All three of the team’s losses came to teams that were ranked.

Seymour responded with a touchdown of its own and got the two-point conversion to make it a two-score game, but Shawano’s offense got it right back to put the game away.

The Hawks’ offense went 49 yards in eight plays, one of which was a fourth-down conversion pass from Timm to Elliott Lowney after Timm evaded a sack. Kaleb Lowney capped the drive with an 18-yard touchdown run and also ran in for the two-point conversion.

Shawano’s defense spent the next seven minutes and 18 seconds of game time on the field, but scored a touchdown of its own and made a stop inside its own 15-yard line to put the finishing touches on the win.

Elliott Lowney intercepted a fourth-down pass and returned it 48 yards for the game’s final touchdown before Timm powered in for the two-point conversion on a run.

When Shawano’s offense finally got the ball back, Timm completed a couple of short passes to Elliott Lowney, the second of which went for nearly 20 yards and put the junior over 1,000 receiving yards for the season.

“All thanks to coach Tomow for scheming me open, even when teams started doubling me. All the credit is to everyone else on the team — the offensive line blocking, Gage throwing, Tomow and all of our coaches scheming. We just come out here and have fun,” said the junior receiver, who broke the school record for career receiving yards in the team’s opening round playoff win over Marinette on No. 13.

Shawano then got most of its seniors off the field to get one final round of applause before the offense drained the rest of the clock.

“Two years ago when we were 1-8, a lot of these kids played that year, and it wasn’t a lot of fun,” said Tomow of the senior class. “We were competitive, but we always came up short. For these kids to be committed to changing that and proving our football program, that’s been a goal of those guys to stick together and do that. They’ve earned everything that they’ve accomplished the last two years.”

Seymour 0 6 8 0

Shawano 8 16 6 16

First quarter

Sh: Gage Timm 2-yard run (Elliott Lowney pass from Timm), 4:08

Second quarter

Sh: Kaleb Lowney 5-yard run (Timm run), 5:59

Sh: E. Lowney 70-yard pass from Timm (K. Lowney run), 3:36

Se: Tyler Lesatz 5-yard pass from Peyton VanDeHei (kick blocked), 0:01

Third quarter

Sh: E. Lowney 64-yard pass from Timm (run failed), 7:46

Se: Carson Molle 1-yard run (Daniel Krull pass from VanDeHei), 2:39

Fourth quarter

Sh: K. Lowney 18-yard run (K. Lowney run), 11:17

Sh: E. Lowney 48-yard interception return (Timm run), 8:01

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