COLMAN — The Hawks are moving on in Class 9B.

No. 3 Colman-Egan pulled away from No. 6 Herreid/Selby Area, 24-14, to advance to next week’s 9B semifinals against No. 2 Avon

The Hawks powered past a stout Wolverine defense in the second half with three touchdowns to secure the win.

“They’re a very well coached, disciplined, hard-nosed team, it was a very hard fought game,” said Colman-Egan head coach Chad Williamson. “Both sides it’s just one of those deals where we had some plays go our way and we were able to be successful.”

Thursday’s contest at Fritz Field quickly turned into a defensive battle with neither team finding the endzone for the first 22 minutes of the game. Both teams traded turnovers on downs and lost fumbles, including a CE fumble in the red zone.

“It’s always situational football no matter what the score,” Williamson said. “We went in just knowing that we were playing a very scrappy team. They’re smaller in size but they played very hard, it was very impressive to watch how their players played, how they’re coached, they just did a great job.”

With two minutes left in the half, the Hawks finally broke through the HSA defense with a big pass from quarterback Zach Pederson, setting up a 4-yard touchdown from senior running back Hayden Pearson.

“Our team worked really hard for this,” Pearson said. “Our line, they worked so hard. We wouldn’t have won this game without our O-line. It starts with the line honestly, and I’m just blessed to have everyone block for me.”

HSA took the lead out of halftime with a Porter Gregg 3-yard touchdown after an interception by CE, but that lead wouldn’t last for long.

Less than a minute later, Pearson reached paydirt a second time on a 29-yard touchdown run as the Hawks were starting to get some production in the ground game.

“We honestly didn’t make any adjustments, we just showed them what they were screwing up on and we told them if you get to your blocks and do what you’re supposed to do, you’ll be successful,” Williamson said.

Pearson scored his third rushing touchdown of the night early in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 10 points, but a quick Wolverine drive pushed it back to four points with just over 10 minutes to play.

“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.”

Later in the quarter, CE held a four-point lead with five minutes to play. On fourth-and-five from the Wolverine 18-yard line, Pederson threw one up to junior tight end Rhyder Behnke, coming down with an 18-yard back-breaking touchdown to seal the win.

“I thought we played tough and executed the way we should’ve,” Pederson said of the win.

“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.”

The Hawks will travel to Avon in the 9B semifinals in a rematch from Week 1, a 38-0 win for the Pirates at home.

“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.”