Broncos run away from Warden in second half
Broncos run away from Warden in second half<br>Lind-Ritzville rallies from behind with five unanswered touchdowns
Lind-Ritzville rallies from behind with five unanswered touchdowns
WARDEN - Down 16-7 late in the first half, Lind-Ritzville's Bobby Helms returned a Warden punt from midfield down to the 19-yard line, setting up a Tyler Bruegeman touchdown reception with 2:04 remaining in the half that cut the Cougar lead to 16-13 and swung momentum in favor of the Broncos heading into halftime.
Lind-Ritzville carried their momentum into the second half, scoring touchdowns on their first five possessions of the period on their way to a 47-32 victory over Warden Friday.
"That was a huge play going into the half, it gave us a big lift," said Lind-Ritzville coach Greg Whitmore. "You always want to take momentum into the half."
The Broncos opened the second half with a seven-play, 54-yard drive in which they simply ran around, over and through the Warden defense. On the drive, the Broncos' Justin Whitney turned in runs of 18, 11 and 12 yards on consecutive plays to get his team into a first and goal situation, where Bruegeman then bounced off a Warden tackle at the goal line to score a 2-yard touchdown to put the Broncos up 16-19. For the night, Whitney had 141 yards on 18 carries, while Bruegeman added 143 yards on just 14 rushes.
"We weren't gonna do anything fancy, just establish the run," said Whitmore of his strategy coming out of the halftime break.
After a Warden three-and-out, Ritzville drove down to the Cougar 25-yard line, where quarterback Mike Osborn connected with Helms down the right sideline for touchdown. Helms then caught another Osborn pass for the two-point conversion, giving Lind-Ritzville a 27-16 lead with 3:17 left in the third quarter.
On the second play of their next possession, Warden fumbled the ball away to the Broncos, giving Lind-Ritzville a first down on the Cougar 27-yard line.
The Broncos immediately took advantage of the Warden miscue, with Helms catching a pass over the middle and weaving his way through the Cougar secondary for his second touchdown of the night and a 34-16 lead. For Osborn, it was his second of three touchdown passes on the night.
"Our quarterback has been struggling," said Whitmore. "Today, he made some big plays for us."
Warden was again held without a first down on their ensuing possession, as the Lind-Ritzville pass rush forced Warden quarterback Juve Salinas into an early throw on third down. For much of the night, the Broncos held the Warden passing attack in check by forcing Salinas out of the pocket where the Cougar signal-caller had to either make difficult throws or tuck the ball under his arm and scramble for yardage.
After a Cougar punt, the Lind-Ritzville offense went back to work. On the Broncos first play from scrimmage, Bruegeman carried the ball up the middle, then broke out toward the left sideline for a 35-yard gain that got Lind-Ritzville down to the Warden 20-yard line.
Matt Saetre finished the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run that pushed the Bronco lead to 40-16.
The score, with 10:19 to play in the fourth quarter, capped off a run of 33 unanswered points by the Broncos that turned what was a competitive game early on into a one-sided affair.
Despite being down 24 points, the Cougars did everything in their power to get back into the game late.
On Warden's first offensive play after the Saetre touchdown, Joel Martinez took the ball up the middle on a draw, broke out to the right, hurdled a tackler and raced down the sideline 43 yards to the Bronco 28. The draw play was one of Warden's most effective plays on the night, as the Cougars on several occasions burned the Bronco defense for big gains.
On the next play, Chance Buck caught a pass from Juve Salinas on a short post pattern and ran from left to right across the field and into the end zone. Salinas completed a pass to Martinez for the two-point conversion, making the score 40-24.
Lind-Ritzville would answer with a Nolan Miller touchdown run to extend their lead to 47-24, and the Cougars added a late touchdown after a 35-yard halfback pass from Buck to Salinas got Warden down to the three and a quarterback keeper by Salinas went for the game's final score.
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