The Ankeny Hawks football team capped off their 2025 season with a 7-3 record, reaching round 1 of the playoffs, where they suffered a 14-21 loss to Southeast Polk.

The Hawks entered the season with some new changes. They were bringing in a new offensive coordinator, moving players into new key positions, and had a senior class often labeled as “troublemakers” tasked with stepping into leadership roles within the team.

The team was thought to have declined compared to past years, and the expectations were shaky. Throughout the season, however, coaches and players alike showed that the talent and brotherhood they had could get the team far past the expectations of others.

Opening up the season, the Hawks fell 24-25 in a hard-fought battle to Waukee Northwest.
In the following weeks, the Hawks picked up wins against Waukee and Des Moines Roosevelt, showing improvement and a growing intensity.

Junior Liam Howard says the Hawks started to change following the first week’s loss,
“That’s when we got rolling, because everyone was bitter.”

Other players echoed this and said that the first three weeks were a little rough, but by week 4, the pieces started to come together completely.

In week 4, the Hawks played their crosstown rivals, Ankeny Centennial, on the road and beat them 29-15 in Centennial’s homecoming game. The Centennial game, year after year, has become one of the strongest rivalries in Iowa and the staple game of the Ankeny season. Being able to win creates morale for the rest of the season and creates lasting memories of celebration and hometown pride.

“Being in the locker room after that and being with (Owen) Liechti in the locker room, it was just so hype,” senior offensive lineman Zach Breitbach said.
The next week was Ankeny’s Homecoming against Sioux City East, where the Hawks won 26-20 and sent the Raiders, who, Breitbach noted, dressed in formal clothing ahead of the game because of the homecoming occasion, back home not in a dancing mood.

Not every week featured a high though. In week 6, the Johnston Dragons came to town and beat the Hawks 21-30 in a heartbreaking battle of equally matched teams. Throughout the season, the Hawks faced challenges with their depth chart becoming riddled with injuries, tensions in the locker room, and the heaviness that came with losses. The Hawks didn’t let things consume them, though, strengthening their bonds and growing closer with every challenge and every game.

The Hawks bounced back from Johnston with a three-win stretch against Ames, Senior Night against WDM Valley, and Council Bluffs Lincoln. This wrapped up the regular season, where the Hawks headed into their 5A round 1 playoff matchup against the SEP Rams and fell 14-21.

This season was fueled by the dedication, aggression, and effort of players.
Senior Running Back Daniel Larmie powered the offense with 1322 rushing yards over 221 carries and 13 touchdowns. Larmie posted the second-most rushing yards in 5A. On the receiving side, he also had 17 catches for 191 yards and a touchdown, showing off his skills as a weapon on the ground and in the air.

Senior Quarterback Kael Roush went 134/212 for 1627 yards and 17 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, and ran the ball 43 times for 232 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Senior wide receiver Andrew Brandhorst, 13, had 47 receptions resulting in 620 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, and went 1/1 with 8 passing yards for 1 touchdown.

The Hawks also feature an explosive defense. On defense, senior defensive back Joey Sandvig led the team with 57 tackles, 29 being solo and 3.5 TFL. Senior DB La’Marious Clark added 30.5 tackles, 4 TFL, 5 interceptions, 1 interception TD, and 2 fumble recoveries. Junior LB Dawson Whitinger posted 51 tackles, 12 TFL, 4 sacks, 1 interception for a TD, and 3 forced fumbles.

The Hawks’ Talent was shown throughout the season, with 3 Hawks earning All-State Honors, including 2 named to the first team, and 20 Hawks who earned All-District Honors in District 3, including 10 named to the first team.

All-state First Team :
Offense: RB Daniel Larmie
Defense: La’Marious Clark
All-state Second Team:
Defense: Dawson Whitinger

All District First Team :
Daniel Larmie, La’Marious Clark, Dawson Whitinger, Kael Roush, Andrew Brandhorst, Nathan Richmond, Owen Liechti, Owen Fischer, Hunter Minner, and Joey Sandvig.

Second Team: Jack Aubrey, Andy Lu, Tyton Westmeier, Nathan Becker, Daniel Frazee
Honorable Mentions: Zach Breitbach, Kael Bodin, Ryan Pruin, Nate Jenkins, Grant Fischer.

While the Hawks boast a high-caliber team statistically, what truly sets this season apart from prior years is the team bond and the brotherhood. Larmie States,

“It was more of a family dynamic than even a team,” Larmie said. “I feel like it was really tight just because it wasn’t just football; we would hang out outside of school. This was like our friend group as a whole playing on one team, so literally everybody just felt like family.”

Breitbach and Howard echo this by stating that they’ll never forget the brotherhood that the team had, and the chemistry this year truly made it unique.

The great thing about High School Football is not just the titles or the records, but the preparation. High school football creates memories that last a lifetime and lessons that accompany them.

Larmie stated that throughout the season, he developed a sense of leadership and purpose., Breitbach detailed that staying humble and not taking your opportunities or your status is important. Howard echoed this, saying it’s important to understand where you are and that once you get that spot and that opportunity, you can’t let it go.

With the final season of High School football under their belts, Breitbach and Larmie had some final advice for future Ankeny Hawks.

“Play through all four quarters. If you make a mistake, so be it. Everyone makes mistakes,” Breitbach said.

Larmie added on what he believes the next team should carry with them moving forward

“Know what you have and know what you have to fight for,“ Larmie said.

He went on to talk about starting to fight now, or else it will end the same way this season ended, and that everybody needs to fight together.

“This team next year will be looked at as scraps and leftovers from last year,” Larmie said. “But they have the heart to do it, and they have the fire to do it, and they have good leaders to do it. They have to trust in their leaders. They have to step up and execute.”

The Hawks had a memorable season full of highs and lows that ended with more purpose than wins or losses. The hawks learned to trust one another, work together, and most of all become a family. With the talent and building off the foundations of culture, the future of the Hawks football team looks bright.