Rivals Montezuma and BGM were locked into a slobber-knocker of a rivalry football game that went back and forth all night, and got really tense as the clock wound down.
BGM quarterback Beau Burns engineered a 55-yard, 11-play drive that ended with his own touchdown run with 24 seconds left to play, and the Bears beat Montezuma 55-50 on Montezuma’s homecoming game on a muggy Friday, Sept. 22, at Badger-Gabriel Field.
Burns traded orchestrating drives with Braves quarterback Brady Boulton all night.
The two, Class 8’s two top-producing touchdown quarterbacks, didn’t disappoint.
The defenses never got a rest as the teams stayed close to each other on the scoreboard thoughout the game.
The lead changed hands 13 times and neither side ever got a two-score lead.
The Braves, who led for much of the second half, seemed on the verge of doing that when Boulton’s two-yard touchdown run and his two points pass to Garrett Watts put the Braves up 48-43 with 9:32 left in the game.
But Burns, facing fourth-and-three from the Montezuma 8, threw a touchdown pass, making it 50-49, which held after the Braves blocked the point after kick.
Montezuma worked the clock with a drive into BGM territory, but had to punt on fourth-and-10 with 4:03 left.
BGM drove 55 yards in 11 plays, with Burns’ touchdowns making it 55-50 with just 24 seconds left. Again, Montezuma stopped the PAT try, so the door was just a little ajar.
Monteuzma took over on its own 31 after the kickoff. The Braves got it to the Bears’ 36 with 5 seconds left, but that was where the game ended.
In the first half, the Braves led 14-12 going into the second quarter when runs by Brett Plants, Boulton, Broox Stokman and Plants again gave the Braves first down on BGM’s one-yard line.
This was a golden opportunity missed for Montezuma, after two rushing plays put the ball back on the three, then the six, then after Boulton was sacked, a fourth down pass from the 10 was incomplete.
Good defensive teams try to make opponents feel uncomfortable by stopping or limiting something they like to do.
For the Bears, it was limiting Montezuma’s passing game. Braves quarterback Brady Boulton was 7-for-18 for 83 yards. The Bears covered up against leading receiver Garrett Watts, who caught two balls for 31 yards, alhough he did snag a pair of two-point conversions.
The running lanes were open at times, especially for fullback Brett Plants, who gained 224 yards on 26 carries, one for a touchdown.
Boulton added 116 yards on 17 rushes, including four touchdowns, including three scores where he managed to hit the pylon at the front of the end zone. The Braves rushed for 383 yards and 5 touchdowns.
For BGM, Burns was devastating on short passing plays after getting excellent protection. Burns was 32-for-48, for 355 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Receiver Dominic Coleman caught 14 balls for 218 yards and two touchdowns. Tate Martin caught 5 for 55 yards and 2 scores, and also returned a Montezuma kickoff 78 yards for a score. In all, Martin dinged the Braves for 203 yards on 7 kickoff returns.
BGM wound up running 75 offensive plays for 489 total yards. Montezuma ran 71 plays and gained 466. Each side punted twice.
Broox Stockman led the Braves with 10 tackles, while Coleman had 10.5 for BGM.
BGM’s win gave the Bears a leg up on the Braves in the battle for one of the district’s three Class 8 playoff spots.
Burns worked with short passes after sound blocking by his offensive line, and mixed in his own runs on occasion.
Boulton and the Braves got their running game going with Brett Plants and Broox Stockman carrying the load. But Boulton called his own number, too, and three times scored touchdowns in which he nicked the end zone pylon.
Boulton also connected on some key passes to keep drives going.
BGM went to 3-2 overall, but 2-1 in district play.
Montezuma fell to 3-3 and 1-2.
COME BACK here later when we’ll have photos.
UP NEXT – Montezuma visits a strong Belle Plaine team next Friday..
SCORE BY QUARTERS
BGM 12 18 13 12 – 55
Montezuma 14 20 8 8 – 50