Braves ground attack prevails

BROOKLYN — Montezuma’s three-headed rushing attack was on display Friday night as the Braves defeated BGM 46-27.

Brady Boulton, Broox Stockman and Brett Plants all rushed for touchdowns as the Braves’ rushing attack totaled 302 yards on the night.

“It’s going to get us to where we want to be,” Montezuma head coach John Beck said on the rushing trio.

“Having those three guys, they lean on each other, and they know when one needs a break, the other one is going to step up.”

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For having two of the highest scoring offenses in 8-player football, the game was, surprisingly, scoreless after one quarter.

BGM drove down the field on the first drive of the game, but penalties stalled the drive and it eventually ended with a Plants interception.

Twenty-one total penalties were called in the game — 15 against the Bears.

The penalties proved costly for the Bears.

After a good defensive effort from both teams in the first quarter, the Braves took advantage of a short field and got on the scoreboard first in the second quarter.

First-down runs from Plants and Boulton set up a touchdown run from six yards out for Stockman.

The Bears responded on the next offensive snap with a 65-yard touchdown pass from Beau Burns to Tucker Wright to take a 7-6 lead.

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On the next possession the Braves reached a third-and-13. Boulton connected on a nicely placed throw down the field to Stockman for a 39-yard touchdown.

After forcing a punt, the Braves added one more score before half on a one-yard run from Plants to make the halftime score 19-7.

The Bears forced a turnover on downs on the opening possession of the second half and responded right away with a score.

Burns broke free on a run to the outside and cut back in to score from 54-yards out — his first of two rushing touchdowns in the second half.

For much of the rest of the game, the Braves’ offense was ground and pound, using their physicality.

“We really tried to establish that run game and get some play-action off of it,” Beck said. “Brady can throw the football with anybody, but he knows what’s best for the team is to run the football.”

On a fourth-and-five, Boulton scored from 25 yards out to extend the lead to 25-13.

The Braves’ defense forced its second interception of the night on the ensuing possession, this time from Carter Michalek.

After two big Bears penalties, the Braves added another rushing score from seven yards out by Plants.

For the second time of the night, the Bears offense scored on a one-play 65-yard touchdown pass, this time from Burns to Tate Martin.

Another Boulton touchdown run and an interception ended the third quarter ended with a score of 38-19.

A snap over the head of the Montezuma punter gave the Bears a safety to make things 38-21.

Each team scored once more to close out the game — the Bears on a one-yard run from Burns, and the Braves on a 19-yard run from Plants.

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The guys played extremely hard tonight,“ Beck said. ”Barring a couple mental mistakes, we really played solid fundamental football.

“I can’t say enough about the team game we had tonight,” Beck said.

The victory sets up a showdown against undefeated Belle Plaine Friday, with the 8-player District 7 title in the balance.

The Bears fall to 2-3 on the season moving, but still sit comfortably in the third-place spot in the district, which is the cutoff for making the postseason.

Montezuma 46, BGM 27

(AT BROOKLYN)

MONTE BGM

First downs 26 18

Rushes-yards 54-302 33-225

Comp-att-int 6-10-0 11-23-3

Passing yards 113 220

Total yards 415 445

Punts-avg. 0-0 3-32.0

Penalties-yards 6-75 15-126

Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0

Montezuma 0 19 19 8-46

BGM 0 7 22 8-27

MONTE — Broox Stockman 6 run (PAT no good)

BGM — Tucker Wright 65 pass from Beau Burns (PAT good)

MONTE — Stockman 39 pass from Brady Boulton (PAT good)

MONTE — Plants 1 run (PAT no good)

BGM — Burns 54 run (PAT no good)

MONTE — Boulton 25 run (Conversion failed)

MONTE — Plants 7 run (PAT good)

BGM — Tate Martin 65 pass from Burns (Conversion failed)

MONTE — Boulton 19 run (PAT no good)

BGM — Safety (snap out of back of end zone)

MONTE — Plants 19 run (Boulton pass to Plants)

BGM — Burns 1 run (PAT no good)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Montezuma: Boulton 18-136, Plants 20-120, Stockman 16-71; BGM: Burns 26-191, Nathan Findlay 5-28, Landon Hassett 1-4, Martin 1-2

Passing — Montezuma: Boulton 6-10-113; BGM: Burns 11-23-220

Receiving — Montezuma: Carter Michalek 3-49, Stockman 1-39, Luke Erselius 1-13, Plants 1-12; BGM: Wright 7-117, Martin 2-91, Dakota Heishman 2-12