HAMPDEN — For the second straight week, fourth-seeded Nokomis made 13 points hold up.

The Warriors jumped out to an early lead before holding Hermon quarterback Garrett Trask in check the rest of the way for a 13-6 win over the No. 2 Hawks in the Class C North regional championship Saturday at Hampden Academy.

Nokomis quarterback Andrew Haining threw one touchdown pass and sealed the win with a 10-yard run with just over a minute to play.

Nokomis won its first regional championship just two weeks after collecting the program’s first playoff win and two years after a second consecutive winless season.

“I don’t know if I ever could have said I would have expected to play in a state championship, looking back on two 0-8 seasons,” said Haining. “The feeling that I’m playing in one (next week), it’s amazing.”

Senior back David Wilson rushed 23 times for 81 yards and a touchdown for Nokomis. Chance Graves had two receptions for 54 yards, including the other Warrior touchdown on a day fraught by weather conditions. Nokomis finished with just 170 yards of total offense, 23 in the second half.

“I wouldn’t say we struggled. I think we knew what our game plan was,” Haining said. “The weather for a couple stretches, there was extreme wind and we knew we wouldn’t be able to air it out. We needed to jump on them early, and then ground and pound and keep the lead.”

Nokomis (7-4) will play for the Class C state title Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

Hermon (9-2) had a six-game winning streak snapped. The Warriors avenged an 18-point loss to the Hawks in Week 3.

While the Nokomis offense was pedestrian at times against Hermon, its defense was the star. The Warriors forced five turnovers, including three Trask interceptions and two fumbles by the senior quarterback.

Trask’s fumble at his own 2-yard line set up Wilson’s score one play later with 7:41 remaining in the first quarter, and Brock Graves returned an interception on the next Hermon possession to the Hawk 9. Four plays later – following a 15-yard penalty for an illegal block on third down – Haining fired a strike over the middle to Chance Graves from 26 yards out for a 13-0 lead.

“The weather didn’t help. We were slipping and sliding everywhere, and their defense played pretty well today,” Chance Graves said. “We scored early, and then we knew we had to stop them when the weather got bad.”

Aside from a 75-yard Trask touchdown run midway through the second quarter, the Warrior defense kept the quarterback under wraps. Trask finished with 179 yards rushing on 29 carries.

The rest of the Hawks accounted for just 13 yards of offense.

“We have one of the best defenses out there, we play as a team,” Chance Graves said.

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