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Bison stampede to season-opening win at Scottsbluff
SCOTTSBLUFF, Nebraska -- Word around the 2011 McCook HIgh School football preseason camp was that the Bison possess a long list of offensive weapons this season.
It took the squad about 15 seconds into the start of the season-opener against host Scottsbluff to show just how potent the Bison could be.
Austin Cherry returned the opening kickoff over 80 yards inside the Scottsbluff 10-yard line last Friday night at Bearcat Stadium. McCook fumbled the ball away two plays later, but the Bison came back and rolled to a 28-7 victory.
The final margin could have been much greater, as the visitors missed several scoring chances, and the Bison shot themselves in the foot many times with a truckload of penalties. McCook was whistled nine times for 65 yards, including five illegal procedure and delay of game miscues on offense. A clipping call also negated Javier Beltran's interception return for a touchdown late in the third quarter.
"We made some mistakes and we made some penalties, but they were all effort penalties aside from the clipping," said McCook head coach Jeff Gross following Friday night's win. "That could have been a 42-7 victory. It's 28-7, we'll take it, we'll walk away. We did some good things, we've got some things we have to improve on. We don't need to improve on our effort, our effort was there. We went as hard as we could. We got gassed halfway through the thing, but we battled back through it."
Dominant defense
The Bison defense was dominant, giving up just 13 net rushing yards and 137 total to the Bearcats. Scottsbluff crossed midfield on just two drives all night.
McCook junior linebacker Jake Schlager ended the first Bearcat march when he sacked quarterback Grant Lacey for a 7-yard loss on a third down near midfield on the first play of the second quarter.
Scottsbluff got its only scoring drive going after taking the second-half kickoff. The Bearcats marched 80 yards in 10 plays, as Lacey hit four passes for 68 yards, and Matt Klein ran the final seven yards to score. The main problem for the hosts was they trailed 21-0 going into halftime.
Bison draw first blood
After losing the ball deep in Scottsbluff territory following Cherry's big return, the Bison forced a punt, and Cherry returned the ball to the Bearcat 40-yard line. On second down, senior quarterback Matt Chitwood sprinted around right end for a 37-yard touchdown run on an option keeper. Chitwood's conversion kick put McCook ahead 7-0.
Scottsbluff went three-and-out again, and McCook took over at the Bison 48. After a holding call negated a big gain, senior fullback Justin Terry rambled 30 yards for a score as the Scottsbluff defense seemed to be focused on shutting down the Bison's outside rushing game. Chitwood converted the PAT for a 14-0 McCook lead with 4:17 left in the first quarter.
Chitwood had the ball stripped near midfield midway through the second quarter. But Scottsbluff gave it back on the next play. The teams exchanged punts, and Scottsbluff blasted Schlager as he waited to return the kick. McCook elected to have the Bearcats re-kick the ball, and the shanked punt gave the Bison possession at the Bearcat 21 late in the second period.
Two plays later, Schlager powered into the end zone from 5 yards out, and Chitwood's boot put the Bison in control at 21-0.
Misssed field goals
Chitwood missed a pair of field goals in the third quarter. The first was just wide left from 30 yards away, and the second came up just short on a 48-yard try.
Schlager's quarterback sack deep in Bearcat territory early in the fourth quarter forced a Scottsbluff punt. The Bison drove 48 yards for their final score. Terry ran 12 yards, and Schlager covered the final five yards for the score, followed by Chitwood's fourth PAT kick.
Defensive stats
Schlager led the McCook defense with 30 points, including 8 unassisted tackles and the two sacks. Lineman Clint Beguin added 18 defensive points with 4 solo tackles. Beltran had 17 defensive points, including 4 unassisted stops -- three for losses -- and the pass interception.
Javier stepped in front of a Scottsbluff pass late in the third quarter and walked into the end zone, but a clipping penalty brought the ball back.
McCook had 340 total yards of offense, including 313 rushing. Terry had 114 yards on 12 rushing attempts.
"They (Scottsbluff) were going to be determined to play two guys wide and take away our wide option game, and that's going to open up things for Justin," Coach Gross said. "That's what we had to do, we had to turn it in and get our yards inside.
"They said(Terry) rushed for over 100 yards, well that's indicative that Matt made the right reads. Anytime we tried to go outside veer or sprint option, they were flying to the ball. Well, they should have -- they had a tackle, an end, a safety and a linebacker all lined up out there, which left them with two tackles and one middle backer on the inside of the box. That's where we had to attack them."
Chitwood added 101 yards on 11 carries. Schlager contributed 62 yards on 11 tries. Chitwood completed just two of six passes for 27 yards, with Cody Wudtke and Matt Collicott each grabbing a reception.
"All-in-all, I'm pleased with, number one, the way we played defensively," Gross said, "and number two, I thought we lost the line of scrimmage at times offensively. But we controlled it in the early going to get a 14-point lead, and we controlled it late in the game to run out the clock, and that was important."
Special specials
Gross was pleased with the play of the Bison special teams. McCook totaled 183 return yards to 28 for Scottsbluff.
"We did some nice things, we had some nice weapons," Gross said. "The nice things is, we're getting a lot of our starters off the field on those specials. That will only get better.
"We're a work in progress. We've got to get better, we've got to take some steps (forward) against Aurora next week. But everybody does -- it's week two, everybody's got to take that next jump."
Big home game Friday night
The Bison entertain Aurora in a key matchup Friday, Sept. 2, at Weiland Field, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. Scottsbluff visits Mitchell next Friday.