Polson's playoff woes continue
POLSON - Matt Thibault did it again - twice.
Belgrade's quarterback/kick return specialist carried the Panthers into the Class A football semifinals with two returns for touchdowns as the Panthers dropped Polson 18-16 in Saturday's quarterfinal.
The first return - of 84 yards - got Belgrade back in the game after Polson had built a 10-0 lead. The second - 92 yards - came with 2:17 left in the contest and put Belgrade on top to stay.
"We've had a special kickoff return all yearlong. He's just a special kid. He's a game-changer. That was a big difference in today's game," said Belgrade coach Eric Kinnaman.
"I knew we had to try to contain special teams. And you know what, we didn't get the job done. I made a bad decision. They had almost broken one, then they break one," said Polson coach Scott Wilson.
"That's just the way it goes. The kid made a few great runbacks and big plays and I give him all the credit," he said.
"I don't think our kids let up. I think that kid made a great play," he added.
The Pirates won the other aspects of the game - Tim Rausch and Joe Andrews each had 100 yard days running the football. They outran Belgrade 203 yards to 115 and had 287 total yards while holding Belgrade to 153 - but special teams made all the difference.
The Pirates were tough in the early going.
They opened the game with a defensive stop, then on Polson's first play from scrimmage Andrews busted a 46-yard run all the way to the Belgrade 22. Six plays later, he scored from six yards out.
Halfway through the first quarter, the Pirates were making it look easy.
It looked even better when Kyle Bagnell intercepted a Thibault pass and set the Pirates up on the Belgrade 39.
But somewhere in there, Polson suffered a big loss - quarterback Vince DiGiallonardo received a head injury and had to sit out the rest of the game.
Bagnell replaced him at quarterback and piloted the Pirate effort to the Panther 15. The drive stalled there, and Bagnell kicked a 32-yard field goal to put Polson up 10-0.
That was a scenario Kinnaman said he and the Panthers had talked about in pregame.
"If they go up 10-0 or if they go up 14-0, we have a good enough team to come back," he said.
"We didn't panic," Kinnaman said. "We've been in this situation a lot this year. It wasn't a stranger to us. We've seen it before.
"Our defense just didn't break. They held strong enough and our offense did just enough," he added.
"We returned the kick and we're right back in the game and we know that," he said.
That's exactly what happened. Thibault took the ensuing kickoff on his own 16, faked a hand off to Ryan Guenther, sprinted to his own sideline and headed upfield.
But the Polson defense hung in, even when the Pirate offense had difficulties.
"Offensively, we struggled a little bit and hurt ourselves a little bit," Wilson said.
The Pirates were without their regular center - broken hand earlier in the week - and twice they snapped the ball over Bagnell's head. One he recovered for a 14-yard loss. The other Belgrade picked up and returned to the Pirate two-yard line.
On that one, Belgrade ran three plays for a 5-yard loss and kicked a 24-yard field goal.
"Our defense played pretty dang well," Wilson said.
"We gave them the ball on the two and held them to a field goal. Then (in the third quarter) we gave them the ball on short yardage on a punt and held them to a field goal. Defensively, I was real pleased with our kids," the coach said.
Even with the difficulties, the heart never went out of the Pirate offense.
Trailing 12-10 with less than five minutes left in the game, Rausch caught a screen pass from Bagnell on third-and-11. He was dragged down 57 yards later on the Belgrade five. He got hurt on that effort, left the game for one play, then returned and scored on fourth and inches to give the Pirates a 16-12 lead with 2:34 to play.
"It was a tough decision - to go on fourth and inches or kick the field goal. But I had faith in those kids they could get the job done and they did," Wilson said.
Disaster struck seconds later. Thibault again faked the handoff (nobody went for that), but then he simply outran the coverage.
"Like I said, I made a bad choice in kicking it to that kid," Wilson said.
Belgrade 6 3 3 6 - 18
Polson 10 0 0 6 - 16
First Quarter
P - Joe Andrews 7 run (Kyle Bagnell kick), 5:53.
P - Bagnell 32 field goal, :43.
B - Matt Thibault 84 kickoff return (Kick blocked), :24.
Second Quarter
B - Kyle Hunter 24 field goal, 5:11.
Third Quarter
B - Hunter 31 field goal, 4:41.
Fourth Quarter
P - Tim Rausch 1 run (pass failed), 2:34.
B - Thibault 92 kickoff return (Kick failed), 2:17.
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B P
First downs 9 10
Total Net Yards 153 287
Rushes-yards 31-115 43-203
Passing 38 84
Punt Returns 1-10 1-12
Kickoff Returns 3- 1813-51
Interceptions Ret. 1-0 1-0
Comp-Att-Int 4-11-1 4-10-1
Punts 3-33.66 4-19
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards 7-55 6-40
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Belgrade, Ryan Guenther 19-54, Stephen McAdams 4-1, Matt Thibault 8-60. Polson, Tim Rausch 18-103, Joe Andrews 21-109, Vince DiGiallonardo 3-5, Kyle Bagnell 1-minus 14.
Passing - Belgrade, Matt Thibault 4-10-38-1-0, Talon Taylor 0-1-0-0-0; Polson, Vince DiGiallonardo 0-3-0-0-0, Kyle Bagnell 4-7-84-1-0.
RECEIVING-Belgrade, Ty Diebold2-25, McAdams 1-9, Tony Galahan 1-4; Polson, Joe Andrews 1-19, Tim Rausch 3-63.