Flying high off Hail Mary win, Hermantown shifts focus to finding end zone early

The final eight seconds of last Friday night’s game was enough for the Hermantown football team to secure victory at Duluth East.

Quarterback Michael Lau hit senior wide receiver Beau Janzig in the endzone to secure the 28-25 buzzer beater win.

The Hawks, while flying high from the Hail Mary comeback, know they have a lot of work left to do heading into the halfway point of their 2021 season.

"We kind of let up a little bit there, and East was able to come down and snatch what would look to be the victory right at the end of the game there with about eight seconds left," head coach Mike Zagelmeyer recalled. "So never give up, but never keep your foot off the pedal. That was the big thing for us, I mean we were fortunate to have it end the way it did but it could have gone either way."

What led to a near loss for the Hawks stemmed from struggles in the first two quarters. Hermantown allowed 19 points early to trail 19-8 at halftime. Moving forward their focus will be on finding the end zone early.

"We struggled with coming out in the first half, so we’re going to try to work on [that] and stay strong through the whole game. Starting in the first and ending in the fourth," Janzig said.

Hermantown kicks off round two of a double Duluth slate on Friday, as the Hawks visit Duluth Denfeld at 6pm.