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Washington Evening Journal
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Montezuma moves to 2-0 in district play
Braves trailed 6-0, score 48 unanswered in win
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MONTEZUMA — Five plays in and Montezuma already trailed 6-0.
A quick three-and-out and two-play scoring drive capped off by a Blake Ewing three-yard touchdown run completed Moravia’s first strike in this 8-player District 7 football matchup Friday.
“A lot of it was we just came out flat,“ quarterback Brady Boulton said. ”We came out expecting to win, and you can’t do that in district play.“
The slow start didn’t last long.
“We just came back to the huddle and focused up on each one of us doing our jobs,” Boulton said.
The following possession, Montezuma methodically drove down the field, ending the drive with a two-yard touchdown run from Boulton.
That would be the first of six scoring drives in the first half, as the Braves shut out Moravia the rest of the game in the 48-6 victory.
A Luke Brennan interception set up a 30-yard score from Dane Strong for a 12-6 lead.
Boulton then threw four touchdowns to three different receivers to finish the half. Two of those went to Brennan, from 27 and 30-yards out.
Heading into his senior season, Brennan had just five career catches for 32 yards. He single-handedly topped those numbers Friday, with five catches for 87 yards.
Stepping into the primary receiver role this season, Brennan leads the team with 320 yards and seven touchdowns through four games.
“Through the past I’ve learned from David Rose and Garrett Watts,” Brennan said. “They helped me throughout the years on my route-running and the coaches have been amazing.”
Brennan also contributes defensively and is third on the team in tackles with 29.
“I like hitting people,” Brennan said.
With Montezuma leading 42-6 at halftime, the running clock was on the entire second half, and the Braves were able to get reps for backups.
Except for some scoring threats in the fourth quarter, the Mohawks’ offense was shut down by the Braves after the opening drive.
Coming off a high-scoring 83-64 loss to Iowa Valley the week before, it was important for Montezuma to come out strong defensively.
“It was huge being able to watch that film and make adjustments,” Boulton said. “We contained their run well and covered well on the backside.”
“It shows our chemistry that a loss won’t bring us down,” Brennan said.
Boulton ended the night with 193 passing yards on 11 completions. Broox Stockman led the rushing attack with 79 yards.
Now Montezuma (3-1) heads into their biggest district game of the season at Southeast Warren (4-0) Friday. Both are undefeated in district play.
The Warhawks defeated Montezuma last season in the opener, 50-44.
MONTEZUMA 48, MORAVIA 6
At Montezuma
Montezuma Stats
Rushes-yards … 31-185
Passing yards. 203
Comp-Att-Int. 11-18-0
Total yards........388
Fumbles-lost … 0-0
Punts-avg........2-32.5
Scoring
Moravia............6 0 0 0—0
Montezuma … 28 14 0 6—0
MOR — Ewing 3 run (conversion failed)
MONTE — Boulton 2 run (conversion failed)
MONTE — Strong 30 run (conversion failed)
MONTE — Strong 35 pass from Boulton (Luke Erselius pass from Boulton)
MONTE — Brennan 27 pass from Boulton (Braxton Plants run)
MONTE — Brennan 30 pass from Boulton (Plants run)
MONTE — Rett Pargeon 17 pass from Boulton (conversion failed)
MONTE — Wyllie Walter 1 run (conversion failed)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Montezuma — Stockman 11-79, Strong 3-56, Wyllie Walters 5-25, Hayden Bardwell 3-19, Breyer Chidester 2-7, Boulton 7 (-1)
Passing: Montezuma— Boulton 10-17-193-4, Gavin Wilcox 1-1-10
Receiving: Montezuma— Brennan 5-87, Rett Pargeon 2-50, Strong 2-49, Chidester 1-10, Luke Erselius 1-7
Defense (leading tackler): Montezuma — Brennan 5
(Note: Moravia statistics were unavailable as of Sunday morning.)
