Sports
Bottineau retains Braves Cup
Tyler Ohmann
10/23/2012
After an 0-6 start to West Region play the Bottineau football team was able to breakout for a 49-12 win over the Turtle Mountain Community High School (TMCHS) to close out their season.
The win also keeps the Braves Cup in Bottineau, the trophy to the winner of the rival Braves squads. Bottineau has won the cup each of the past three seasons.
“That’s how hard we’ve been playing all year, and tonight we really showed how hard we’ve been playing,” said senior Jesse Klebe. “A lot of it is the team. It was a team effort.”
The play for Bottineau was led by their seniors, including Klebe who had three touchdowns.
After taking an early lead Bottineau allowed 12 first half points to TMCHS. It was the first points scored by TMCHS in five games.
However, Bottineau bounced back and led handily by halftime and kept the pressure on in the second to secure the big victory. Most of the Bottineau offense came on the ground as they rushed for 305 yards and five touchdowns in the win.
“Trevor’s (Wettlaufer) runs, my runs, it all starts with the line blocking,” Klebe said. “I mean, when you can run a wedge and before even get the ball you have three yards because the line is pushing them back and all you have to do is dive over for the touchdown, they make it so easy for you.”
Wettlaufer led Bottineau, as he has the whole season, carrying the ball 33 times for 230 yards and two scores in the game.
Senior quarterback Jeremiah Aberle also scored on the ground and added 55 yards on five carries. Klebe had seven carries for 21 yards and two scores.
“We were able to run the ball effectively even though Belcourt had really filled up the box,” stated Bottineau head coach Rob Bedlion. “I was very glad to see the seniors go out with a win. They were a very hard working and dedicated group.”
Aberle also threw for two touchdowns on 4-of-7 passing for 94 yards.
One of those was to Klebe, another was a 63-yard connection with junior John Gohman.
However, the win was bittersweet for Bottineau as they were hoping to make a push for the playoffs, but lost several close games throughout the season after going 8-1 in 2011.
“That is all you can ask for. Sure you would like to have more wins, but I think everybody on this team knows how hard we’ve played and how hard we’ve fought,” Klebe said. “It’s just too bad sometimes, in a game someone’s got to win and someone’s got to lose, and there were a lot of games that were just close, and it’s too bad when you lose.”
“You fight hard, and you can’t feel bad if you do that,” Klebe added.
Bedlion too, was happy with effort, but wish it could have translated to more wins as Bottineau finished with a 2-6 overall record and a 1-6 record in the West Region.
I wish we had done better in the win/loss column this season, but I thought the players came out and competed every game and I was very happy with that,” Bedlion stated.
Defensively Gohman and senior Ty Domben each had two interceptions in the contest. Fellow seniors Wyatt Johnson (nine tackles), Owen Furby (eight tackles, forced fumble) and Vince Bechtold (six tackles, one sack) also played strongly on the defensive side of the ball.
“We were able to play a lot of the older back ups during the game and that was great to see,” stated Bedlion. “I would like to thank all those that supported Bottineau football this year, we really appreciate it.”
Due to realignment Bottineau will drop down to Class A in 2013, and will face new teams and new challenges, which Bedlion looks forward to.
“We now will look forward to next year as we move to a new division and a lot of new teams to play,” Bedlion stated.
Klebe was glad that the seniors could finish the year on a good note.
“You can’t ask for a better senior night, or a better close to a career,” Klebe said. “It was six years in the making.”