The cold and wind played a big factor on Thursday night's Class 3A District 1 Championship game between Hiawatha and Sabetha, even the scoreboard did not function throughout the night.  The contest featured 7 total turnovers and 5 other fumbles that weren't lost before Hiawatha survived a 21-12 victory to earn a home playoff game on Tuesday. 

Early fireworks included a fumble by each team and a Denzel Chilcoat 34 yard touchdown run all in the first :35 of the game.  Chilcoat would go on to run for all three Hiawatha TD's and rack up 157 yards rushing on 15 carries to earn Citizens State Bank and Trust Company "Player to Bank On" game honors.  While the Sabetha offense sputtered in the first half and only crossed the 50 yard-line once in the first half with four first-downs, Hiawatha drove the field and got inside the Sabetha 30 yard-line four times but were stopped on downs three times and also tossed an interception on their final possession.  Alex Edelman picked off his third pass of the year for the Jays to keep the score 7-0 at the intermission.

Hiawatha fumbled away the pigksin on their first drive of the second half but Sabetha could not capitalize.  Denzel Chilcoat capped a 7 play, 55 yard-drive on the Hawks second drive of the half with a three yard run to up the lead to 14-0 with 4:26 left in the third.  Sabetha was forced to punt on their next drive, but Hiawatha's fourth turnover of the night was a muffed punt return that the Jays pounced on at the 7 yard-line.  On a fourth and goal at the five, Gaven Schumann found Tyler Edelman, who also recovered the fumble, for a score to get the Bluejays on the board.  However, the extra point kick missed and it was 14-6 with :31 left in the quarter.  Hiawatha answered on the ensuing drive as Denzel Chilcoat's third score was a dazzling 54 yard dash to make it 21-6.  Sabetha drove 9 plays and 66 yards and McKenzie McAfee punched the ball in the endzone from one-yard out but the two-point-conversion missed and Sabetha was still down two scores 21-12 with 7:18 to go.  The Bluejays got one more possession but fumbled away their third turnover of the night and fall to 4-5 with the loss.  McAfee had 125 yards on 20 touches. 

For the third straight year, Sabetha will travel to begin post season play at Riley County Tuesday.  Hiawatha, now 7-2, has a chance to avenge a 26-21 loss at Seneca in week five, as the Redhawks will host the Raiders Tuesday evening at 7:00 PM live on KNZA 103.9 FM.