COLMAN — It’s been a season to remember for the Hawks, but it’s not over yet.

After an 0-3 start, Colman-Egan rattled off five straight wins to end the regular season and claimed the No. 3 seed in the Class 9B playoffs.

After taking down Arlington, 50-0, in the opening round of the playoffs, the Hawks followed it up with a big win over No. 6 Herreid-Selby Area, 24-14, on Oct. 30 in the quarterfinals.

Now sitting as one of four teams remaining in the hunt for a state championship in 9B football, CE head coach Chad Williamson says he and the coaching knew what this team was capable of.

“The No. 1 thing I do enjoy talking about is how proud we are as a staff with how hard they’ve worked to come out and play as a team,” Williamson said. “A lot of people didn’t expect them to be able to succeed this way and we knew if they played hard as a team and be leaders, we knew we could have success like this and they’re doing a good job.”

And this success is coming with a relatively young team. The Hawks have just five seniors and two juniors on a roster of 25 players, but Williamson has confidence in his young group.

“You run plays, you expect them to work,” Williamson said. “They’re not sophomores anymore, these guys are all high school players, we’re into Week 10. You just have to run your offense and believe in your team.”

One senior, Hayden Pearson, has played a huge leadership role this season and it showed in his quarterfinal performance.

“Throughout the years my coaches have always told me there’s got to be a leader on this team,” Pearson said. “I think all seniors have stepped up in a really big way and I think that’s what has also carried us through this game.”

The 6-foot, 185-pound running back totaled three touchdowns and took a bulk of the workload in the run game leading to the quarterfinal win over the Wolverines.

“Going into this game I knew it was going to be hard, I knew we were going to have to work for it,” Pearson said. “But I think we had a bunch of freshmen and sophomores step up and I think that’s what really carried through the game.”

“He just did his job,” Williamson said of Pearson. “He was able to be successful because of his line on offense, and does a good job at defensive end. It’s not just him, it’s his entire team that gives him the ability to run. We’re not a person team, we’re a team.”

Pearson added that the 0-3 start added to the team’s motivation to come back and finish the season strong.

“We hadn't had a lot of success and the doubt just fuels us to get through those games,” Pearson said. “We’ve had people doubt us all season and it starts with our coach too. He told us after those first three games that we have to step it up, it relies on us if we want to have a successful season.”

Now heading into the 9B semifinals, the Hawks face a familiar opponent in No. 2 Avon, a sequel to the Hawks’ 38-0 loss to the Pirates in Avon.

If CE wants to make it back to the state title game for the first time since 2019, it’ll have to go on the road again and sink the Pirates’ ship.

“Avon really took care of us in Week 1,” Williamson said. “We’re a completely different team than we were in Week 1 and I’m sure they are too.”

“Just take it one play at a time,” Pearson said. “Worry about what our coach is going to teach us and we’ll go from there.”