Many years from now, a young sports fan will be sitting on his grandpa’s knee in Montezuma, looking through an old high school yearbook, or iPad, or Notebook, or whatever electronic gizmo they have by then.
“Grandpa,” the kid says, “it says here the Braves football team had won all 10 of their games . .and then they got beat, 63-14, by Audubon. How could that happen?”
“Get down son, you bother me!” says grandpa.
But grandma had an answer.
“The other team had this fast quarterback . . .really fast,” she says. “He ran for a long touchdown. It was like he was up on a steep hill, made a snowball, and gave it a push.”
“Pretty soon, that snowball gained speed and size and before you could say ‘option run,’ it was an avalanche.”
It wasn’t an avalanche that buried the Braves in a Class 8 playoff game Friday night, Oct. 29, although it seemed to be cold and windy enough to be snowing.
It was a well-oiled and fast – and quick – Audubon Wheelers team.
Quarterback Gavin Smith, a fleet, 6-1, 170-pound senior, was the guy who made the snowball and started it rolling down the hill.
Smith scored five touchdowns in the first half, on runs of 57, 27, 65, 41 and one yard(2), the five runs going for 191 total yards.
Audubon led 42-6 by halftime against the stunned Braves.
The Wheelers had speed and quickness on defense, too, and crowded Braves quarterback Eddie Burgess and his offensive teammates so much that they had trouble getting anything started or sustained.
Montezuma’s first half score came on a 27-yard run by Burgess – just a little over halfway through the first quarter.
But Smith answered it almost immediately with a 65-yard option run around the left side.
The Wheelers intercepted Burgess twice in the first half.
Freshman linebacker Brett Plants provided a spark when he recovered a fumbled option pitch late in the half. But the Braves couldn’t capitalize and Smith scored his 41-yarder to open the lead to 42-6.
Even with a continuous clock, Audubon, now 9-1, outscored the Braves 21-8 in the second half.
The Braves did get a fourth quarter score, Burgess setting it up with a nice 51-yard rainbow to Eli Bustamante.
That put the ball on the Wheelers’ five. and Masin Shearer carried it in from three on a shuttle pass, then Shearer added a two-point conversion.
But, it was a painful ending for what had been an uplifting 10-0 season for Montezuma football.
The Braves bow out with a 10-1 record, and, we think, enough good memories to last a lifetime.
Stats vs. Audubon
Passing – Eddie Burgess was 15-for-32 for 161 yards and one touchdown, with 2 interceptions. Owen Cook was one-for-four for 5 yards.
Rushing – Burgess 14-43, one touchdown; Connor Van Zee 4-8, Brett Plants 1-7, Cook 2-1, Cruz De Jong 2-(-2).
Receiving – Masin Shearer 7-53, one touchdown; Connor Van Zee 8-62, Eli Bustamonte 1-51.
Tackles – Burgess 7.5, Marty Knox 6.0, Bustamonte 4.5, Zach Bennett 3.0, Van Zee 2.5, Matt Karadios 2.5, Nathan Borton 1.0, Gabe Wearmouth 1.0, Plants 1.0, Tod Geiger 1.0.
Tackles for loss – Bennett 1.0, Bustamonte 1.0, Knox 1.0, Karadios 1.0.
Fumble recoveries – Plants 1-4.
Interception – Van Zee 1-14.
Kicking – Cook 3 kickoffs, 2 touchbacks, 143 yards.
Punts – Burgess 5-212 (42.4 avg.). De Jong 1-39.
Two-point conversions – Shearer, one.
Audubon leaders
Rushing – Gavin Smith 22-301, 6 touchdowns.
Passing – Smith, 4-7, 42 yards, one interception.
Defense – 4 quarterback sacks, 8 tackles for loss, one blocked punt.
