Carrollton Hawks football tradition under Flowers, Pohlman in a word is "awesome"
CARROLLTON - For years now, there have been young Carrollton boys off to the side of the home football games with Hawks shirts on, calling plays and their own snap counts in small pickup games.
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The young Hawks look out with almost reverence to those on the field and do everything in their power to emulate their moves on the gridiron.
This year’s playoffs were no different than normal regular season games for young future Hawks. Excited off to the side of the field were a horde of Carrollton boys dreaming of being the next Cole Brannan, Jerrett Smith, Jacob Smith, Cody Leonard and Luke Palan. At one time, those players were likely off to the sidelines following the tradition of the other younger Hawks today.
Nick Flowers and Greg Pohlman are the two longest-standing head football coaches in recent history, with Pohlman accumulating an 87-52 record before leaving the post in 2001 and Flowers now has an 86-41 record in 12 years. Pohlman has been head Carrollton baseball coach for 28 years and topped 500 wins this past year. He now has an incredible 509-286 record and a state championship under his belt, so the Hawk football tradition has seeped into baseball under the legendary coach/athletic director.
Flowers’ overall winning percentage is .677. The Hawks were 10-2 this past season and advanced deeper in the football playoffs than any other RiverBender.com team, making the IHSA Class 1A quarterfinals. Pohlman’s won-loss record as head coach accumulated to a .626 winning percentage.
Carrollton’s Flowers said he couldn’t be happier with how things have gone since he arrived on the scene in Carrollton. He said the Hawks’ tradition paid off this year in the playoff victories over Red Hill and Pawneee at Carrollton.
“It is pretty touching and rewarding as a coach to see these young men be so determined and composed and not afraid to take risks,” he said. “Against Pawnee we faked a fourth down with Jerrett Smith passing to Cole Brannan and made it work for a touchdown to win the game. We practice those things a hundred times and in the back of your mind you never know if you will use it or not.”
Jerrett Smith will return next season as a receiver/defensive back, along with quarterback Wade Prough and a host of other strong younger players will be back. The Hawks had outstanding freshman and sophomore teams again this year. This year’s seniors concluded their careers with an 8-0 record with home playoff games.
“The tradition speaks for itself,” Flowers said. “I don’t think many people thought we would be a state quarterfinal team this year. We saw that we could be this summer. The tradition and just believing in one another and believing in the program works. Carrollton is all together as a community.”
One thing that surprised Flowers this year is the Hawk Boosters didn’t sell a lot of first-round playoff shirts.
“We want to buy the second-round playoff shirts,” several told the coach.
Seniors Cole Brannan, Luke Schnettgoecke, Brody Howard, Jacob Lovel, Tyler Frye, Nate Shanks, Logan Duba, Tom Cox, Eric Evans, Chase McAdams and Ben Dewitt played their last game as Hawks when the playoffs ended. Those seniors will now go down in the annals as one of the best groups in Hawk history, with 10 wins in their final season.
When Flowers decided to return to Carrollton to take over the football team, he had dreams and goals to build a dynasty at the school.
“I built a great group of assistant coaches and our Hawk Pride Club started years ago because we needed financial backing,” he said. “The community has been so supportive over the years. It has been just awesome. I am so proud of what we have accomplished here over the years and look forward to the future with some great players coming up.”
Several of the Hawks football players have moved away from the gridiron now to play basketball for what should be a strong Carrollton boys team this season. In the spring many of those players will take to the baseball field or to the track to compete in their third sport of the season.
After the playoff victory against Pawnee, in sort of an unorthodox type of move, Flowers addressed not only the players, but the families and fans who flocked to the field. It was a mini press conference to the fans of sorts.
“I told the crowd with all high schools having financial troubles, just doing what we do around here in a word, it is just ‘awesome.’”
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