So what do you do with your playoff-bound football team for two weeks?
The Montezuma Braves steamed to a 7-0 regular season record and put a 62-24 smackdown on a fast, physical opponent in the final regular season game.
Then, they found out they had a first round playoff bye.
Well, you can’t lock the players in a cage and poke them with a sharp stick every now and then, just to keep them mean.
And you don’t risk confusing them by putting in new gadget plays.
“Our approach is that less is more,” Braves coach Joe O’Brien said as he prepared for the second coming of Lone Tree on Friday, Oct. 23.
“We want to make what we do better,” the coach told KGRN’s Chris Varney in an interview.
Lone Tree was that final regular season opponent for Montezuma. The Braves led by a tame 26-16 margin at halftime, but hit the Lions with a 33-0 shot of focused intensity in the third quarter.
The Braves simply did better. “We were more into hugging them than tackling in the first half,” O’Brien said.
Lone Tree, 4-3, has weapons and the Lions will try again when the teams meet in the second round of the playoffs Friday at 7 p.m. at Badger-Gabriel Field.
Friday’s winner advances to the third round in Class 8. The state will re-draw and re-seed the “pods” after Friday’s action, then announce pairings on Saturday.
O’Brien said he didn’t mind the unexpected first round bye, or the bit of rest and relaxation it brought.
“We’ve been working on the little things,” he said.
According to O’Brien, there’s no need to re-invent the wheel. But grease it? That’s another matter.
“We’ve worked at sharpening some things,” Montezuma’s coach said. “Defensively, we over-pursued early. On offense, we needed to run sharper routes.”
Lone Tree has an excellent player in Alex Viner (#4), a 6-0, 160-pound running back. He rushed 10 times for 39 yards and one touchdown against the Braves first time, and caught four passes for 37 yards. And those are really limited numbers for Viner, who is explosive and elusive.
Levi Stotzen (#11) rushed eight times for 35 yards and a score.
The quarterback, Cade Shield (6-1, 155) completed 12 passes in 26 attempts for 158 yards and a score.
The Lions have quite a blocker in Tyler Bell (#48), who caught three balls for 44 yards.
Cade Patterson (#2), a 6-1, 150-pound wide-out, caught three passes for 70 yards and a touchdown.
None of them were able to produce much in that 0-33 third quarter against the Braves, who converted four Lone Tree turnovers into touchdowns on the night.
“They do have balance and you have to respect that,” O’Brien said. “They can upset anyone at any time.”
Braves quarterback Eddie Burgess threw for 326 yards and five touchdowns the first time, and rushed for 211 yards and three more scores.
Touchdown Twins Trey Shearer and Cole Watts combined for 17 catches, 265 yards and four touchdowns.
Burgess led the Braves with 12.5 tackles, including 4.5 for losses.
O’Brien said he expects Lone Tree to rush Burgess “with one more guy than we’re set up to block.” The Lions tried some of that and so have other teams. It hasn’t worked too well.
One among a number of reasons is Braves senior Brian Diaz (#43). “He’s a tremendous leader,” O’Brien said. “He teaches the younger kids as well as we as coaches do.”
“Sometimes, your best teacher in school is the kid sitting next to you,” O’Brien said.
“We have the advantage that we won over them the first time,” O’Brien said. “We can’t overlook them, or we’ll be going home early.”