Sports
Huskies bounce Braves from AA playoffs
Tyler Ohmann
11/01/2011
The Bottineau Braves season came to an end this past Saturday as the Braves fell 40-20 to the Wahpeton Huskies in Bottineau at Les Christian Field in the first round of the Class AA playoffs.
The Braves allowed a season-worst 233 yards on the ground to the Huskies. Running the ball was the game plan entering the contest.
“We came in and thought we had an advantage on the line,” Dokken said. “We knew we had to control the ball, because Bottineau is very explosive. We’ve been doing that all year.”
The Huskies did just that on their first drive taking more than seven minutes off the clock and cashing in with a Zayne Medhaug eight-yard run.
The key play was an 11-yard fourth down catch by Cole Gilles, one of only two passes on the day for the Huskies.
Bottineau answered back on their next drive, using big plays to set up a 10-yard Matt Bowers touchdown.
Bowers had good success on the ground with 11 carries for 60 yards and a score. The Braves finished with 125 yards rushing on 27 carries.
The Huskies would answer back quickly though, as Brock Lingen returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards to pay dirt.
The second quarter belonged to the Huskies as they scored twice more on runs by Medhaug and junior Tyler Gripentrog.
Medhaug’s was a 61-yard dash that put the Huskies up 27-8 seconds before half time.
After a scoreless third quarter for both teams, Bottineau struck first in the fourth with a one-yard sneak by quarterback Justin McCloud on fourth and goal. The score trimmed the Huskies lead to 27-14.
“We came out a little flat after halftime, and they came out jacked up,” Dokken said. “They made some nice adjustments defensively, so it took us a few drives to figure it out.”
Medhaug’s day wasn’t only done on the ground. He tossed a 67 yard touchdown to junior Cole Gilles in the fourth quarter, which returned it to a three-score game. The drive was set up by a forced fumble that turned the ball over as Bottineau was about to score.
The Braves would not go away despite a 20 point deficit. McCloud hit senior Mark LaCroix for a 53-yard touchdown to make it a two score game with a little more than six minutes remaining.
LaCroix finished with six grabs for 144 yards and the one score.
McCloud went 14-for-30 for 227 yards one score and one interception. He also had five yards including the touchdown run and a two-point conversion run.
However, Medhaug would put the game away on the next drive, when he broke a 41 yard touchdown run.
Bedlion cited the play of the Huskies offensive line as the reason Bottineau was unable to stop them.
“There front really beat up on ours,” Bedlion said. “That forced us to make plays, and they just made a more plays than we did.”
Defensively Bottineau was led by senior Jackson Bernstein who had a season-high 18 tackles. Junior Dalton Sivertson also had a strong defensive effort making 14 tackles.
Dokken gave a lot of credit to the Braves as well, and said he was impressed with how they played despite their lack of size.
“Give them credit. They were a good team,” Dokken said. “It was a good game to the end.”
Wahpeton will play next Saturday against the East’s top-seeded Grafton, the only undefeated team in Class AA. Grafton shut out Beulah 42-0 to advance.
It will be an all East Region semi final as Kindred upset the west’s top-seeded team Carrington 32-8 and Fargo Shanley breezed past Bishop Ryan 42-14.
The Braves finished the season 8-2, and posted their best finish since 2004 when they finished first place in the East Region at 6-1 and went 7-3 overall.
“I told them after the game that despite what happened, nothing is going to change what a great season they had,” Bedlion said. “They made people speak up about football in the community, which is usually a bit secondary.”
Braves make All-Region team
Seven Bottineau Braves football players made the Class AA West Region All-Region team announced yesterday.
They were: senior’s Justin McCloud, Mark LaCroix, Wyatt Johnson and Matt Bowers; junior’s Trevor Wettlaufer and Vince Bechtold; sophomore Harrison Aide.
The Braves also received four honorable mentions they were: seniors Bryce Pottenger and Jackson Bernstein and juniors Jeremiah Aberle and Dalton Sivertson.
Senior Athlete of the Year for the West Region was Preston Tescher of Bismarck-St. Mary’s, coach of the year went to Marty Hochhalter of Carrington.