Sports

Bombers’ ground troops roll past Bottineau High

By Staff reports

09/16/2014

BERTOHLD - The Bottineau High football team fell hard on Thursday in the Braves’ third consecutive loss to start this season, this time losing 48-21 on the road against Lewis & Clark-Our Redeemer’s.

The Bombers moved to 3-0 on the year thanks to the strength of their running game. Not much went right for Bottineau’s defense in the game, as the Braves conceded 485 rushing yards and seven Bomber touchdowns scored on the ground.

L&C-ORCS didn’t have anything like as much success through the air and only racked up 82 yards using that method. With the dominant performance the Bombers’ rushers used, however, not much other offensive firepower was needed.

Bottineau’s offense wasn’t nearly as successful as its counterpart was. Running backs Hunter Tooke and Braden Pewe led the Braves in rushing with 51 yards and 50 yards, respectively.

Braves quarterback Brody Moum also had a difficult day at the office, going 1-for-7 through the air for five yards while throwing two interceptions. On the ground, he carried the ball three times for a total of 14 yards.

Pewe led the Braves defensively with 14 tackles and one forced fumble, while Tooke and Jayhawk Shriver both posted 10 tackles and picked up one Bombers fumble apiece.

Pewe also came up big on special teams by taking two kick returns all the way back for touchdowns. His first kick-six was an 80-yarder before he covered 90 yards on his second kick return for a score.

“The guys played hard and gave a good effort the whole game,” Braves head coach Rob Bedlion said, “(But) unfortunately we lost most of our one-on-one matchups and the score became lopsided as we were unable to stop them on the ground.  

“Berthold did an excellent job on the ground and we just didn’t have an answer. We hung with them for a quarter and a half and then after a pair of interceptions that they took advantage of we just couldn’t keep pace with them on the scoreboard.

Bottineau’s next game will be at home this Friday against Region 3 rival Rugby (3-0).