Wildcats run over Polson

CARL HENNELL /The Daily Inter Lake

Nolan perfects read-option with Wilson; the 2 combine for 208 rushing yards

COLUMBIA FALLS - The 2007 Columbia Falls High School football team took a big step Friday night toward the postseason.

Utilizing a shotgun formation with a slot receiver in motion, ready to take a handoff for a sweep every time, the Wildcats ran a read-option draw play more than 80 percent of their plays and rushed for nearly 300 yards en route to an 18-13 upset of Northwestern A co-favorite Polson.

"You find something that is working and hope to stay with it," C-Falls coach John Thompson said. "Some games you find what's working and some games you never find something that works."

Junior quarterback Mackie Nolan engineered the read option to perfection and rushed for a career-high 106 yards. Junior running back Josh Wilson accounted for 102 yards with two touchdowns. And senior slot receivers Scott Palmer and Chase Fairbank combined for 77 yards and another touchdown.

"We had success with the sweeps early on, but then Polson did a good job of adjusting and shutting them down," Thompson said. "The big thing that we talked about was having patience between the back and the quarterback (in the read-option draw). If they have patience on that handoff, it freezes the defense. Polson is well coached. It (the read-option) is just a tough play to defend - especially with two guys that can run."

Nolan, who held the ball in Wilson's chest for what seemed like an eternity while both of them started upfield before taking the ball back and keeping it himself, summed the patience up perfectly.

"We were both fighting to keep the ball and that's what you want," he said.

The victory improved the Wildcats to 2-1 in league play - good for a solid hold on second place with two weeks left in the regular season - and 4-2 overall.

Polson fell to 1-2 in conference and 3-3 overall.

The Wildcats ran 61 plays on offense, compared to Polson's 45, and out-gained the Pirates 327-175.

Trailing 7-0 with 2 minutes, 55 seconds left in the first half, Nolan got the 'Cats rolling one play after junior cornerback Tanner Perry intercepted a pass with a 54-yard run down the visiting sideline. Three plays later, Wilson scored from 4 yards out with 1:15 left before the half. Nolan's extra-point kick failed.

The Wildcats got a fortuitous bounce on the ensuing kickoff when Nolan recovered the live ball after kicking it off of Polson's front middle man.

Five plays later, Palmer and Fairbank combined for 41 yards on two sweeps. Fairbank scored from 20 yards with 23 seconds left to put the 'Cats up, 12-7. The 2-point conversion run failed.

"We just send them in motion and give them the ball for a sweep," Nolan said. "They've got a lot of speed and we like to use it to get around the corner and watch them make some cuts."

Trailing 12-7 on their opening possession of the second half, the Pirates strong-armed their way 50 yards on six straight running plays up the middle and took a 13-12 lead. Senior running back Cody Doyle accounted for 40 yards on the first four carries.

Sophomore Tim Rausch capped it with two runs totaling 21 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown. Rausch's run on the 2-point conversion was stopped by Nolan.

Two drives after that, the Wildcats put together a 14-play, 90-yard drive that spanned nearly halfway into the fourth quarter. That drive even featured three 10-yard penalties that the 'Cats fought their way out of. Wilson capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.

"The line is performing really well and when the line does good, everybody does good," Nolan said. "We've had it (the read-option) in all year, we are just executing really well right now. This didn't surprise me. I knew we could do it. We just pulled everything together and got it done."

Polson got into Columbia Falls' territory on its next two drives, but Perry tackled Doyle for a loss on the first drive's big third-down play to thwart it. On the final drive's big third-down play, a shotgun snap sailed over quarterback Craig Bagnell's head for a 22-yard loss with 1:38 left in the game to essentially end it.

Polson 7 0 6 0 - 13

C. Falls 0 12 0 6 - 18

First Quarter

P-Ryan Kelley 31 pass from Craig Bagnell (John Rausch kick), 6:41.

Second Quarter

CF-Josh Wilson 1 run (kick failed), 1:15.

CF-Chase Fairbank 8 run (run failed), :23.

Third Quarter

P-Tim Rausch 4 run (run failed), 8:05.

Fourth Quarter

CF-Wilson 6 run (pass failed), 7:52.

TEAM STATISTICS

Pol. CF

First Downs 12 14

Total Net Yards 175 327

Rushes-yards 24-64 50-289

Passing 111 38

Punt Ret. 0-0 0-0

Kickoff Ret. 3-26 2-22

Int. Ret. 1-(-4) 2-0

Comp-Att-Int 13-21-2 4-11-1

Sacked-yards Lost 3-34 3-24

Punts 4-49.3 4-34.3

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-1

Penalties-Yards 3-26 7-67

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Pol, Tim Rausch 10-57, Cody Doyle 9-25, Craig Bagnell 5-4, team 1-(-22). CF, Mackie Nolan 18-106, Josh Wilson 21-102, Scott Palmer 4-42, Chase Fairbank 5-35, Michael Hader 1-4, Steven Brennan 1-1.

PASSING-Pol, Bagnell 13-21-2-111. CF, Nolan 4-11-1-38.

RECEIVING-Pol, Ryan Kelley 5-69, Chris Alfiero 3-24, Doyle 3-6, John Rausch 2-12. CF, David Wilson 1-19, Hader 1-7, Chase Grilley 1-7, Tanner Perry 1-5.

MISSED FIELD GOALS-none.