Flathead rally falls short
The Daily Inter Lake
Billings Senior escapes with 27-20 Class AA football playoff victory
BILLINGS - Thrilling, exciting, heart stopping - and heart breaking.
The final moments of Friday's Class AA football playoff game were about as exciting as high school football can be as the Flathead Braves and Billings Senior Broncs combined to score 20 points in less than two minutes.
The No. 7-seeded Braves were less than 15 yards from a possible tying touchdown and extra point - and a chance to extend their football season.
Trailing No. 2-seeded Billings Senior 27-20, with time winding down, the Braves drove from their own 15 all the way to the Broncs' 15.
But on first down, with less than 30 seconds to play, Flathead (6-5) fumbled.
The Broncs' Corey Raymond recovered.
In other Class AA playoff action, No. 1 Helena Capital downed No. 8 Missoula Big Sky 30-14 and No. 5 Helena High dropped No. 4 CMR 21-7.
No. 3 Billings West takes on No. 6 Great Falls High at 7:30 tonight at Wendy's Field at Daylis Stadium.
The game was about as even as it could be - 17 first downs each, 347 total yards for Flathead, 353 for Billings Senior.
Flathead quarterback Brock Osweiler completed 19 of 32 passing attempts for 252 yards and a touchdown. Billings Senior quarterback A.J. Paine completed 20 of 31 attempts for 256 yards and two touchdowns.
Flathead rushed 30 times for 95 yards. Senior ran 28 times for 97 yards.
"My hat's off to this football team," said Flathead head coach Russell McCarvel.
"I just want to say how proud I am. I thought we played our best football game of the year, offensively, defensively and on special teams," he said.
"I just couldn't be prouder of our effort and our execution.
"I'm really proud of how our coaches coached and how our kids traveled," the coach said.
"They were very business-like and they came ready to play, without a doubt."
Flathead was the team that was ready when it came time to take the field.
The Braves recovered a Billings Senior fumble on the opening kickoff, then capped a nine-play, 35-yard drive with a one-yard dive by junior running back Bryce Stacy.
Senior had a quick answer - a 67-yard drive that took just over three minutes and was capped by a 21-yard pass from Paine to Joe Dunning.
That's where things stayed, scoring-wise, until late in the third quarter.
Senior scored on a one-yard run by Paine, but the Braves blocked the extra point attempt.
That's when all the offense broke out.
"It was a wild fourth quarter and our kids stepped up and made a lot of plays in clutch situations," McCarvel said.
There were four touchdowns scored in the last 7:43.
Patrick Hergesheimer's three-yard run and Curtis Manning's extra point gave the Braves a 14-13 lead.
Senior responded with a 77-yard drive capped by Mo Burrough's one-yard dive with 3:16 to go. Flathead regained the lead with 2:24 left on Osweiler's 73-yard scoring pass to Sam Tedrow.
Paine guided the Broncs 65 yards in 53 seconds, hitting on four consecutive passes, for the winning touchdown.
With 1:25 left in the game, Flathead got the ball at its own 15.
Osweiler completed four of his next five passes and rushed for seven yards to put the Braves at the Bronc 15.
But then, disaster, as Osweiler bobbled the ball into the end zone with 26 seconds left.
Senior 27, Flathead 20
Flathead 7 0 0 13 - 20
Senior 7 0 6 14 - 27
Scoring plays
First quarter
F- Bryce Stacy 1 run (CJ Manning kick) 7:17
BS- Joe Dunning 21 pass from A.J. Paine (Sam Gratton kick) 3:58
Third quarter
BS - Paine 1 run (kick blocked) 3:57
Fourth quarter
F- Patrick Hergesheimer 3 run (Manning kick) 7:43
BS- Mo Burrough 1 run (pass failed) 3:16
F - Sam Tedrow 73 pass from Brock Osweiler (run failed) 2:24
BS- Jordan Davis 35 pass from A.J. Paine (Paine run) 1:25
Team statistics
Flathead Senior
First downs 17 17
Rushes-yards 30-95 28-97
Comp-Att-Int 19-32-1 20-31-0
Passing yards 252 256
Total yards 347 353
Punts 5-34.8 4-27
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-2
Penalties-Yards 5-30 2-15
Individual statistics
Rushing - Flathead: Osweiler 17-63, Stacy 10-22, Hergesheimer 3-10. Senior: Burrough 11-38, Josh Colvin 11-35, Paine 6-24.
Passing - Flathead: Osweiler 18-31-1-243, Andrus 1-1-0-9. Senior: Paine 20-31-0-256.
Receiving - Flathead: Mike Gallagher 4-49, Tedrow 3-115, Kyle Houghtaling 2-19, Andrus 2-17, Stacy 2-13, Kyle Van Eimeren 2-10, Charlie Dotson 2-5, Hergesheimer 1-15, Bryant Eickart 1-9. Senior: Stephen Grass 6-111, Davis 5-64, Dunning 2-41, Colvin 2-19, Marc Oberweiser 2-9, Scotty Owens 1-6, Burrough 1-4, Sam Green 1-2.