MONTEZUMA — The door stood open for the Montezuma Braves to march through on their way to a district title Friday night in Montezuma. But a sturdy BGM defense slammed the door in the face of the Braves and the Bears went home with a hard-fought 14-0 victory.

The loss drops the district-leading Braves into a four-way tie for the Class A District 6 lead. Joining Montezuma at the top with 5-1 records are BGM, Lynnville-Sully and Pekin and the final Friday should be a football fans delight. Montezuma will travel to Lynnville-Sully and Pekin will make the trip to BGM.

When the smoke has cleared, there will be a tie for the top two spots and a tie for the third and fourth slots. That will bring criteria into the mix to decide the playoff seeding.

The game did not get off to a good start for the Braves. BGM took the ball to start the game and the Bears put together a 12-play drive that marched the ball all the way to the Montezuma eight-yard line. That drive was stopped by a Codi Townsend interception at the eight-yard line.

A running play gained nothing and on the second play, the Braves tried a sweep. A violent collision occurred and the ball and the ball carrier went different ways. BGM’s Zac Freese fell on the ball at the eight-yard line. Four plays later, the Bears were in the end zone as result of a slashing 12-yard run by Jack Kline. Kyle Gritsch kicked the PAT for a 7-0 BGM lead with 4:47 left in the first quarter.

On the next series, the Braves turned the ball over with a fumble on the first play to give the Bears a short field at the Montezuma 28-yard line. This time the stubborn Brave defense stopped the Bears and forced a field goal attempt that fell short.

The entire second quarter became a defensive struggle and neither team was able to penetrate the “Red Zone.” As the teams went into halftime, it was obvious that offensive coordinators were looking for answers.

Montezuma took the ball first and moved into the “Red Zone” behind the running of Zach Gibson. But a flat pass lost big yardage and the Bears held at the 30 yard line.

From that point, the Bears drove 70 yards in 12 plays to put their second touchdown on the board. Bryan Kriegel found Nate Beck in the corner of the end zone for a 17-yard scoring play. Gritsch nailed the PAT kick for a 14-0 BGM lead with 2:41 left in the third stanza.

Late in the third period and early in the fourth quarter, the Braves seemed to get things rolling and they drove to the BGM 21-yard line. On what looked like a big gainer for the Braves, the ball popped free and BGM recovered on the 11-yard line. From that point, the Bears drove the ball out of danger and used ball control to seal the win.

Montezuma coach Keith Sietstra felt that despite the adversity, his team learned some things in the game.

“It was certainly not the way we wanted to start the game,” Sietstra said. “We learned how to handle adversity and we battled and hung tough. BGM was ready and they took what was there. The story of the game is that they controlled the line of scrimmage. On defense they have two great linebackers that made it tough for our offense.”

Mitch Gibson led the Braves with 57 yards in 10 carries and Gibson added another 30 yards in 7 carries. On defense, it was Kane Barker that led the way with 13 tackles while Bryan Gregson was in on 11 stops and Colton Maschmann checked in with nine tackles.

The Braves are now 6-2 and 5-1 in district play with the big game at Sully looming on the horizon.

“It will be a challenge,” Sietstra said. “We knew that the last three games on our schedule would be challenging. The chips will be on the table and we get to play for a championship. I’m really anxious to see how we respond.”

 

BGM 14, Montezuma 0

M    0    0    0    0    —    0

B    7    0    7    0    —    14

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

BGM — Jack Kline 12 run (Kyle Gritsch kick) 4:47

Third Quarter

BGM — Nate Beck 17 pass from Bryan Kriegel (Gritsch kick) 2:41

Team Statistics 

     BGM    M

First downs    9    5

Rushes-yards    46-187    27-110

Passing yards    62    9

Total yards    249    119

Comp-Att-Int    6-13-1    6-14-0

Fumbles-lost    0-0    3-3

Punts    NA    3-35.3

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — BGM, Jack Kline 31-107, Kyle Gritsch 9-59, Blake Jack 2-10, Nate Beck 1-10. Montezuma, Mitch Stevens 10-57, Zach Gibson 7-30, Kane Barker 3-15, Colton Maschmann 6-9.

PASSING — BGM, Bryan Kriegel 5-11-0- 65. Montezuma, Gibson 6-14-0-9.

RECEIVING — BGM, Beck 5- 53. Montezuma, Codi Townsend 2-11, Stevens 2-6.

TACKLES — BGM NA. Montezuma, Barker 13, Bryan Gregson 11, Maschmann 9, Tyler Swensen 7, Gibson 5, Stevens 4, Bryant Sutfin 4, Dillon Wilhelm 4.

INTERCEPTION — Montezuma, Townsend.