Northern Elite running back Landon Kalkofen (5) follows the blocking of Trentan Rea (55) in a Northwoods Conference game versus Tomahawk on Saturday at Marv Ropele Field. (Matt McCarthy/Daily News photo)

NIAGARA, Wis. — Northern Elite fell victim to a team with a very efficient passing game Saturday as the Tomahawk Hatchets defeated the Predators 25-8 in Northwoods Conference action at Marv Ropele Field in Niagara.

The teams exchanged punts a couple of times to start the game, until Hatchets quarterback Bode Imm found tight end James Gillmer for a 60–yard pass completion late in the first quarter. One play later, Imm found running back Mason Evans in the left corner of the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown to put Tomahawk up 6-0.

On Northern Elite’s first play from scrimmage after receiving the ensuing kickoff, sophomore Logan Weber found an open Aiden Colenso around the left hash and Colenso outran the Tomahawk defenders to the endzone, 17 seconds after the Hatchets’ touchdown. Landon Kalkofen ran a two-point conversion to put the host Predators up 8-6.

At that point in the game, the Predators began sustaining injuries.

“Today was a good lesson for our boys, how to press on and overcome adversity,” said Predators head coach Ben Laarman. “We kept getting bad break after bad break with our injuries. Things began to unravel after that.”

At halftime, the team was running mock plays with a player who had never played quarterback before, because both of Northern Elite’s quarterbacks were injured.

“Most of our guys kept battling and stayed positive,” Laarman said. “We scraped together whatever we could.”

In the last 30 seconds of the first half, the teams exchanged turnovers. Kalkofen recovered a Tomahawk fumble with 22 seconds left. Then, on the Predators’ first play from scrimmage after the Hatchets turnover, Sam Niven threw an interception into the hands of Evans for the Hatchets.

Evans scored on a 40-yard run midway through the third quarter to put the Hatchets up for good. Tomahawk increased their lead to 19-8 late in the third quarter, when Imm found Jake Kaminski for a 25-yard touchdown.

After forcing the Predators to punt, Tomahawk had a drive stalled around the N.E. 35 when Goodman student Gabe Wysocki recorded a sack.

Wysocki, who was a force on defense throughout the game, was also on Goodman’s homecoming court at halftime.

On the Predators ensuing drive, Nathan Gould of Tomahawk sacked Kalkofen to end the third quarter. Kalkofen then threw an interception to Adam Hall, who returned the ball around 40 yards down to the 25 of the Predators.

The Hall interception set up the Hatchets’ final touchdown, a 1-yard run by Logan Bishop, a couple of plays later, to increase the Tomahawk lead to 25-8.

Tomahawk head coach Sam Hernandez was happy for his players after getting their first win of the season. The Hatchets lost to Marshall in a non-conference game to start the season on Sept. 25.

“We practiced all week to stop the run, we were concerned about their running game,” Hernandez said. “Our defense really played well, our scheme was great, our kids executed all afternoon and our defensive coaching staff got them ready.”

With the exception of the play the Predators scored on, their offense was held to minimal yardage and first downs.

“We talked after last week’s loss that we needed to take a big step going forward, our play today definitely showed that we took that step,” Henandez added. Kaminski, who played well at wide receiver in the game, missed the entire season in 2019 due to a foot injury Hernandez noted.

“Today was a good high school football game. Northern Elite was banged up, but their kids fought the whole game and never gave up,” Hernandez said.

The Predators (1-1) travel to Oconto Falls Friday night for another Northwoods Conference matchup. Saturday’s game was both Goodman-Armstrong Creek and Beecher-Dunbar-Pembine’s homecoming.

The Goodman homecoming king was Lamarr Lewis and queen was Kalli Erickson. Pembine’s king was Dave Seidel and queen, Mariah Matchapotaw.

The homecoming game for those schools is usually played at Goodman, but the WIAA has certain regulations for crowd control due to the pandemic, so the game had to be played at Niagara’s facility instead.

T — 6 6 7 6 – 25

N.E — 8 0 0 0 – 8

1st Quarter

T: James Gillmer 15 yard touchdown reception from Bode Imm (Kick failed) 6-0 2:03.

NE: Aiden Colenso 64 yard touchdown reception from Logan Weber (Landon Kalkofen run) 8-6 (1:46).

2nd Quarter

T: Mason Evans 40 yard run (Kick failed) 12-8 (7:07).

3rd Quarter

T: Jake Kaminski 25 yard touchdown reception from Imm (Dakota Jelinek Kick) 19-8 (5:45).

4th Quarter

T: Logan Bishop 1 yard run (Kick failed) 25-8 (7:21).