Montezuma football Coach Pat O’Brien said there were two key plays in the second half that swung things St. Mary’s’ way in the Hawks’ 108-94 win over the Braves.
The first was the onside kick St. Mary’s recovered with 3:20 left in the third quarter.
The second was the pick-six interception return by the Hawks with 6:36 left in the game.
O’Brien told KGRN’s Chris Varney that the “onside kick caught us off guard.”
A pass interception by Montezuma’s Cole Watts led to a 44-yard Eddie Burgess to Trey Shearer touchdown strike and a 60-36 lead – the Braves’ largest – with 6:24 left in the third quarter.
St. Mary’s drove for a touchdown with 3:20 left in the third, cutting the lead to 60-42.
But then came the onside kick. Braves down lineman Brian Diaz suffered a helmet-to-helmet hit on the play and a concussion. He was not able to return to action.
St. Mary’s scored the second touchdown of a three-score, 39-seconds spurt.
Montezuma still had the lead, but soon lost the services of Burgess on defense after he hurt a knee. “He could hardly move,” O’Brien said. “But he could still throw and was willing to do whatever he could to help us win.”
The second key play, O’Brien said, was the interception and 55-yard return for a score which put St. Mary’s up 101-66 with 6:36 left to play.
“The onside kick changed momentum. The interception was huge,” the coach said.
“It was a prize fight up to then,” O’Brien said.
“Our guys played their hearts out to the final whistle,” O’Brien said. “You could tell by how many were lying on the field at the end or in the locker room.”
Burgess took a pounding when he threw, on middle blitzes some plays, pressure off the edge on others.
“That helped them. We had to bring five people up to block. But that helped us,” O’Brien said. “We got one-on-one coverage on Cole (Watts) and Trey (Shearer).”
Burgess and Shearer connected for six touchdown passes in the second half alone.
“But that fumble in the end zone hurt us,” O’Brien said.
Actually, there were two fumbles that hurt the Braves deep in their own territory.
The first came on Montezuma’s first play from scrimmage of the game. Burgess went back to pass, but the ball fell out of his hand and was recovered in the end zone by St. Mary’s for a touchdown.
The second came just after second of St. Mary’s three-scores-in-39 -seconds spurt. The Hawks recovered on Montezuma’s three and punched it in.
What appeared to be a case of nerves really was not, O’Brien said.
“They use brand new, out-of-the-box footballs for the games in the Uni-Dome,” O’Brien said. “You need to get the wax scrubbed off them. They do that because the new balls look better on TV, I guess,” O’Brien said.
“It was one of those little things we didn’t cover. It had been 14 years since Montezuma last played in the ‘Dome.”
The Braves led 46-36 at halftime. “We were beating ourselves in the first half,” O’Brien said. “But actually, we started tackling better in space starting in the second quarter.”
“Losing Brian Diaz took some air out of our lungs,” the Montezuma coach said. “The ball didn’t bounce our way after that.”
O’Brien called the seniors, “my fabulous five. They were a great group.
The coach told Varney, “I wasn’t going to take this (Montezuma) job, but Trey (Shearer) talked me into it,” he said. O’Brien needed a moment to regain his composure, then he said, “from not being in the playoffs, to playing in the ‘Dome. It’s not about me, it’s about them. They have heart. They are selfless individuals.”
O’Brien told me later, “my hope for these departing seniors is that they use the lesson learned here to help them become better fathers, better husbands and better role models.”
You can hear this complete interview on the MyIowaInfo website. Go to KGRN sports, and follow the prompts.
