It was a beautiful night for football, but for the Moravia Mohawks, it must have been cold and lonely – in the ditch.
The Montezuma Braves, who have become a road grader in recent games, ran the Mohawks off the highway early in a 71-7 home win.
The game was played Friday evening, Sept. 25, at Badger-Gabriel Field.
It was 40-0 at the end of the first quarter. That’s two weeks in a row the 5-0 Braves have caused the use of a continuous clock by putting up 40 or more in the first period.
It wasn’t just a handful of guys doing this. It was everyone – blockers, tacklers, passers, receivers, guys along the sidelines yelling encouragement.
“The boys played well,” Braves Coach Pat O’Brien said. “It was good to see them control the line of scrimmage again on both sides of the ball.”
That control was actually a point of focus coming into this game. O’Brien was concerned about Moravia’s size and physical style of play, plus a triple option offense.
But the Braves handled situations.
Montezuma didn’t have to punt. It was 54-7 at halftime and 64-7 after three quarters.
“Owen Cook again did a great job of putting us in great field position on defense,” O’Brien said.
Cook kicked off 12 times for 542 yards. He toed a 24-yard field goal, and he was 8-for-10 on extra point kicks.
Brian Diaz was all over the field on defense, with 6.0 tackles, including a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss. He also rushed six times for 57 yards and one touchdown.
Cole Watts caught six passes for 93 yards, three of them for touchdowns.
Trey Shearer had two catches for 107 yards, with both grabs turning into touchdown plays.
Cook completed a touchdown pass to Masin Sheaer, and Joey Kercheval grabbed a scoring toss from Eddie Burgess.
Quarterback Burgess hit on 10-of-14 passes for 223 yards and six touchdowns. He rushed eight times for 122 yards and two more scores.
Moravia fell to 0-5, although the Mohawks had been reasonably competitive in games prior to this one.
“We still have a few things to clean up,” O’Brien said. “But overall, it was a good game for us.”
UP NEXT – The Braves visit WACO on Friday, Oct. 2.
Stats vs. Moravia
Passing – Eddie Burgess 10-14 for 223 yards, 6 touchdowns. Owen Cook 2-4 for 14 yards, one touchdown.
Rushing – Burgess 8-122, 2 touchdowns. Brian Diaz, 6-57, one touchdown. Connor Van Zee 3-40, Cook 2-39, Kodie Strong 2-17, Brady Ogan 2-13, Masin Shearer 1-1.
Receiving – T. Shearer 2-107, 2 touchdowns; Cole Watts 6-93, 3 touchdowns; Joey Kercheval 1-15, one touchdown; M. Shearer 1-9, one touchdown. Kodie Strong 1-8, Eli Bustamonte 1-5.
Tackles – Diaz 6.0 with 1.0 sacks and 2.5 for loss; Burgess 4.0 with 1.5 for loss; Van Zee 3.5; Ogan 2.5 with 0.5 for loss; Kercheval 2.5; Tod Geiger 2.0 with 1.5 for loss; Matt Karadios 1.5 with 2.0 for loss; Tyler Vanderford 1.5 with 0.5 for loss; M. Shearer 1.0; Strong 0.5; C. Watts 0.5; Bustamonte 0.5 with 1.0 for loss.
Fumble recoveries – Vanderford 1, Geiger 1.
Kickoff returns – Burgess 1 for 1.
Punt returns – T. Shearer 3-65.
Kicking – Cook 12 kickoffs for 542 yards. One-for-one on field goals (24 yards) and 8-10 on PATs.
Punts – None.
