With one week to go, the West Hancock football team has sealed the Class A District 2 title with their victory over Saint Angar on Friday night.
The Eagles could still have the same district record as Newman Catholic, but the Eagles hold the first tiebreaker to win the title. “Those things don’t come easy,” said head coach Mark Sanger. “With teams like Saint Ansgar and Newman that are used to winning and success, anytime your playing teams like that, it’s going to be a dog fight, and a district title is nothing to shake a stick at,” Sanger continued.
West Hancock made a statement early in the season, putting the rest of Class A on notice that though they lost many pieces from last year’s team, the Eagles were still the team to beat in Class A. They proved that in the previous two weeks beating playoff teams and not just winning the games but physically beating those teams.
Friday’s win over Saint Ansgar was extra special as West Hancock honored their 12 seniors as well. “They’ve done a lot for our program and have been very successful,” said Sanger. This senior group has won a district title in all four years they’ve been in high school and haven’t lost a district game, “That doesn’t just happen; that doesn’t come easy – it’s due to a lot of hard work and dedication,” said Sanger.
This group of West Hancock seniors is currently 42-2, has won two state championships and the previously mentioned four district titles, and is presently on a 20-game winning streak that dates back to November 6th, 2020. “It’s unprecedented – I just appreciate so much of what the seniors have done,” Sanger said.
It’s not the first time it’s happened. The Eagles won four titles in the ’90s, but it still doesn’t happen every year and hasn’t in over two decades.
West Hancock will try to keep its winning streak intact this Friday night when they head to Greene to take on North Butler, the team they played for the district title last year. Sanger says ending the regular season undefeated is a team goal, “the biggest thing is in high school football, you’re limited to so many games,” Sanger said. “In the other sports you play in high school, you get all sorts of opportunities, but football isn’t one of those; you get eight regular season games, and the most you can play is 13.”
West Hancock and North Butler will kickoff at 7:00 PM Friday with coverage starting at 6:30 PM on KIOW and live at KIOW.com.
Audio from Mark Sanger:
