Sports

Bottineau-Rugby remains undefeated in West Region play

Bottineau Courant Staff

12/23/2013

And undefeated 4-0 start as the Bottineau-Rugby (BR) Braves tied for third place in the West Region standings.

That comes after the Braves took down a pair of region foes this past week. First, last Tuesday the Braves traveled to Williston and downed the Coyotes 8-3 thanks to senior Harrison Aide’s four goals. On Friday the Braves hosted Jamestown and used a five-goal third period to comeback and win 6-2.

First on Tuesday the Braves made the trek over to Williston to take on the Coyotes.

Things swung in BR’s favor early on in the contest as Austyn Lorenz found the back of the net at 9:10. Freshman Casey Tooke assisted on the play.

The Coyotes evened the score later in the period, but Aide took over in the second frame.

Aide scored twice in the second period, one play taking a pass from Luke Amsbaugh, and another taking it to the goal himself to put the Braves up 3-1.

Amsbaugh added another goal for the Braves, which was assisted by Aide, to go up 4-1 at the end of the second.

BR extended their lead from there, as they scored four more goals in the final frame.

Amsbaugh kicked off the third period scoring with a marker at 16:39. Andrew Hill and Noah Grant assisted on the goal.

Lorenz notched his second goal of the evening later in the period. Senior Cody Bedlion earned the helper on the play.

Aide closed out the scoring for BR with a pair of goals before the halfway point of the third. One was assisted by Grant, the other was unassisted.

Goaltender Riley Monson, who had stopped 27-of-28 shots was replaced by Ethan Clements late in the third period.

The sophomore allowed a pair of goals late in the contest, but made four saves as well in his first ever varsity action.

The Braves’ West Region success continued last Friday as they hosted Jamestown for their first match up of the year.

The Blue Jays hopped out to an early lead as they scored a pair of first-period goals to go up 2-0 early on.

An unassisted goal by Grant in the second period with 4:19 left drew the Braves to within one heading into the final period of play.

In the period the Braves’ defense stiffened and the scorers broke through the levee with five unanswered goals.

Amsbaugh started the flood of goals with a goal from a Bedlion pass.

Bedlion and Lorenz both garnered assists on the second of the third-period goals, which was scored by Tooke. The game-winning goal was the first in Tooke’s young high school career.

Aide added an unassisted goal with 6:58 left in the contest to put the game out of reach at 4-2.

Another first career goal put BR up 5-2 as Nick Schaan scored an unassisted marker.

Not thirty seconds later Aide struck again as he used an assist from Amsbaugh to net the Braves’ sixth and final goal.

BR (5-2, 4-0) are now off until Jan. 3 when they play at Jamestown for a rematch with the Jays.

The next home game for the Braves is at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 10 when they host Williston in Rugby.