Grand View Christian confronted the football Braves with a dynamic passing game when the two met Friday evening, Sept. 2, at Badger-Gabriel Field.
But it was Montezuma that wound up being more dynamic.
Montezuma quarterback Owen Cook passed for seven touchdowns and the Braves rushed for 387 yards and a 7.6 per carry average in a 68-26 run past the Thunder.
The Braves seemed to become relatively stronger the longer the game went. They expanded a 14-7 first quarter lead to 28-7 at halftime, and added 20 points in each of the third and fourth quarters to win going away.
“We ran the ball really well with a lot of different guys and were able to be very efficient with the passing game,” Braves Coach John Beck said.
Cook was 11-for-20 for 176 yards. He had three scoring strikes each to Masin Shearer and Garrett Watts and one to Eli Bustamante. “Owen Cook made a lot of great decisions with the ball and our wide receivers ran some good routes,” the coach said.
Meanwhile, the Braves’ big guys up front pounded on the Thunder defense. “I saw a lot of good things from Kennen Roadcap, Tod Geiger and Houston Van Roekel,” Beck said. “We also got some good routes from our wide receivers, who continued to make big plays for us.”
“Our running backs continue to run hard!” Beck said. “Brett Plants and company are getting the tough yards for us and running through tackles.”
“We like to rotate three guys at that spot to keep them fresh. All three (Plants, Marty Knox and Broox Stockman, have bought into that system and are benefitting from it.”
Plants rushed 12 times for 122 yards, Stockman was at 8 for 97, and Knox gained 91 on seven carries.
The Braves were limiting on defense. Quarterback Noah John was 20-for-38 for 252 yards and two touchdowns.
“Our defensive line, Geiger, Knox, Kennen Roadcap, Peyton Minner and Landon Morrison, put a lot of pressure on their passing game,” Beck said.
Colin Woodbury, a freshman, caught six passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed four times for 70 yards and one score for the Thunder.
“I think our rotation really helped on a hot night,” Beck said. “Our linebackers (Plants, Brady Ogan and Stockman), did a great job filling in the run game and had a tough task in covering guys coming out of the backfield. We were able to adjust as the game went on.”
“Our defensive backs (Cook, Shearer, Carter Michalek and Brady Boulton) also played very well and were able to get a pick early on (by Boulton) and held a very good quarterback to around 250 yards passing, with most of those coming on two big plays.”
Boulton also scored on a 74-yard kickoff return late in the game.
“We continue to work on tackling and communication throughout the defense,” Beck said. “Overall, I am very pleased with how they played.”
The victory put Montezuma at 2-1 overall and at 1-0 in district play.
Grand View Christian is 1-1 overall and 0-1 in district action.
UP NEXT – Montezuma makes the short trip over to Brooklyn to face the BGM Bears on Friday, Sept. 9.