All season long – and in the lead-up to the Easton Valley game – Montezuma Coach Pat O’Brien has talked about “putting kids in position to have success.”
The Braves had a 62-35 victory worth of success on Friday evening, Nov. 6, at Badger-Gabriel Field.
The Braves’ offense stretched the River Hawks’ speedy coverage. Their defense limited Easton Valley’s running game and forced River Hawks quarterback Conor Gruver to throw a season-high 44 passes.
Gruver did throw four touchdown passes.
But Montezuma’s Eddie Burgess threw seven of them, and ran for another.
“Their quarterback (Burgess) could freaking sling the ball all around the field to a multitude of receivers and he could run the ball like no other,” Easton Valley senior defender Porter Fuegen told Beau Troutman of The Clinton Herald.
“Just all of that combined makes them a really tough football team,” Fuegen said. “They’re going to be hard to beat.”
“It was a great win against a team that was ranked higher than us,” O’Brien said. “We played well at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.”
Now, it’s off to the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls for the Class 8 semifinals. It’ll match a pair of 10-0 teams, the Braves and Remsen St. Mary’s. It starts at 9:00 Thursday morning, Nov. 12.
Three first half turnovers by Easton Valley gave Montezuma chances to grab and maintain an early lead and the Braves capitalized.
Burgess completed 29-of-43 throws for 517 yards. He got the snowball started downhill early by quickly getting rid of the football on short outs, while sending at least one receiver deep. That stretched the defense.
Burgess took advantage of occasional gaps up front to quickly rush the ball up the middle. The Montezuma quarterback also got superb protection from his offensive line on passes.
It was a night to shine for three Montezuma receivers. All of them caught at least eight passes, for a minimum of 141 yards.
It was a career night for senior Kodie Strong, who grabbed four scoring passes and had eight receptions total for 189 yards. He ran precise routes, often getting single coverage, and Burgess put his passes on the money.
Trey Shearer had 11 catches for 156 yards and two scores.
Cole Watts had eight grabs for 141 yards and a touchdown.
Both Shearer and Watts had at least one catch each where it appeared they stole the ball from defenders on the way down.
Burgess was a menace to Easton Valley on defense, too. He led the Braves with 15.0 tackles. Trey Shearer had 10.0, Watts had 9.0, and Connor Van Zee had 7.0.
Kicker Owen Cook had nine touchbacks on 10 kickoffs. He was 4-for-6 on PAT kicks.
Trey Shearer’s interception halted Easton Valley’s game-opening drive. Burgess & Company immediately went to work, driving 71 yards to score on a 17-yard reception by Watts.
The River Hawks made a threatening drive to the Braves’ six yard line, but Montezuma got penetration and linebacker Joey Kercheval recovered a fumble.
Completions to Watts, Kercheval and Shearer set up Burgess for a four-yard touchdown and it was 13-0.
Easton Valley climbed back in on a pass from Gruver to Parker Johnson, and it was 13-6.
“We started to get a rhythm offensively,” Johnson told the Clinton reporter. “We were able to throw the football but those turnovers – you can’t turn over the football against a team like that.”
Maybe the key moments came midway through the second period. Burgess stopped River Hawk running back Kolton Murphy at about the three-inch line on a fourth down play.
On first down, Burgess rolled left, with Watts trailing him to the edge. At about the four, Burgess, while being tackled, got a pitch to Watts, who took it the rest of the way for a touchdown. Watts got credited with a 74-yard run on a play that originated just outside the goal line.
Burgess passed 58 yards to Strong, who was running free in the secondary, then Burgess intercepted Gruver.
Now, Shearer beat his coverage, and Burgess threw 50 yards to him for a score and it was 40-14.
Montezuma put up 27 second quarter points to lead 40-22 at halftime.
The Braves put up 22 more in the third quarter. Burgess passed 20 yards to Shearer, 59 to Strong, and 19 to Strong again. The clock went continuous with 54 seconds left in the third quarter and the score at 62-22.
Easton Valley’s Kolton Murphy managed 68 yards on 14 rushes, but couldn’t break free for big gains. That, and Montezuma’s lead, helped to force Gruver to throw.
“The early turnovers were key,” said Coach Johnson. “That’s (Montezuma) a great football team and in my opinion, they’re the team to beat.”
Stats vs. Easton Valley
Passing – Eddie Burgess was 29-for-43 for 517 yars, with seven touchdowns and two interceptions.
Rushing – Cole Watts 1-76, one touchdown; Eddie Burgess 20-68, one touchdown; Kodie Strong 1-(-1).
Receiving – Kodie Strong 8-189 with four touchdowns; Trey Shearer 11-156, with two touchdowns; Cole Watts 8-141 with one touchdown; Joey Kercheval 2-31.
Tackles – Eddie Burgess 15.0, Trey Shearer 10.0, Cole Watts 9.0, Connor Van Zee 7.0, Brian Diaz 4.5, Joey Kercheval 3.5, Masin Shearer 3.0, Tyler Vanderford 3.0, Brady Ogan 1.5.
Interceptions – Masin Shearer 1, Cole Watts 1, Trey Shearer 1.
Kicking – Owen Cook 10 kickoffs, 9 touchbacks, 485 yards. PATs – 4-for-6.
Punting – Trey Shearer 4 for 118 yards, 29.5 average.
