Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth senior fullback Jesse Leuthold runs past some Southwest Star Concept defenders during Saturday's Section 2 football playoff game in Hills. Leuthold ran for 99 yards and one touchdown during a 47-20 semifinal-round win over the Quasars.
By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth earned the right to host the Section 2 Nine-Man Football playoff championship game after beating up on Southwest Star Concept Saturday in Hills.
Patriot coach Dan Ellingson expected a tight battle when his top-seeded team hosted No. 4 SSC for a semifinal-round tilt in Hills Saturday, but he got a rout instead as H-BC-E ran its record to 9-0 with a 47-20 victory.
"It was kind of surprising," Ellingson said. "We thought this was going to be a close game, but we ended up playing our best offensive game of the season, and our defense did a good job of containing Leopold (Tyler, SSC's senior quarterback)."
If the Patriots can put together another solid effort on both sides the ball when they host No. 2 Nicollet at 3 p.m.
Saturday, they could get the chance to play in the state tournament for the second straight year.
Beating Nicollet, however, may be easier said than done.
The 10-0 Raiders are the state's third-ranked team, and one of their victories came against a former top-ranked LeRoy-Ostrander squad late in the season.
H-BC-E, which is ranked as the state's fourth team in nine-man football, has faced Nicollet in the playoffs the past three seasons. The Raiders have a 2-1 edge in those games.
"They are a very good team," Ellingson said of the Raiders. "They are very quick. They have the same quarterback and running back from last year, so we have a good understanding of what they like to do. The keys for us will be to not turn the ball over, and take advantage of the mistakes they might make. With their quickness, we'll have to concentrate on not giving up big plays when we are on defense."
H-BC-E is a good team, too, and they displayed that while pounding the Quasars Saturday.
After falling behind 6-0 early in the game, H-BC-E scored 40 consecutive points to all but end the contest midway through the third quarter. The 40-point fun featured H-BC-E's offensive scoring with six consecutive possessions, while the Patriot defense was shutting down Leopold.
"Our main concern heading into the game was stopping Leopold. He's their main ball carrier and he can throw the ball. We had to stop him, and we did what we needed to do. He did rush for 93 yards, but he only passed for 52 yards against our No. 1 defense," Ellingson said.
Although the Patriots had him in their sights, Leopold did open the scoring when he capped SSC's second possession of the game with a 22-yard touchdown run at the 3:13 mark of the first quarter. SSC's extra-point attempt was blocked.
The rest of the first half belonged to H-BC-E as it scored 26 unanswered points with four offensive possessions.
During the kickoff following Leopold's touchdown, Patriot senior Chris Reid returned the ball 38 yards to SSC 47-yard line. After a five-yard penalty on the Quasars, H-BC-E quarterback tossed a 42-yard touchdown pass to Tyson Metzger with 2:39 remaining in the opening stanza. Zach Wysong added the extra point to give the Patriots a 7-6 edge.
H-BC-E's defense forced the Quasars to punt four plays into their next possession, setting up a 10-play, 70-yard touchdown drive. The drive was capped with a six-yard touchdown pass from Schilling to Metzger during a fourth-and-goal situation. Wysong's extra point made it a 14-6 game at the 9:08 mark of the second quarter.
SCC had to punt four plays into its next possession, and H-BC-E advanced the ball 64 yards in seven plays before Jesse Leuthold found the end zone after a three-yard run to make it a 20-6 difference with 4:45 left in the first half.
H-BC-E's roll continued as Reid picked off a pass five plays into SSC's ensuing possession, setting up a 10-play, 70-yard drive that ended with Schilling scoring on a one-yard run to increase the lead to 20-6 with 15 seconds left in the second period.
Any thoughts of a second-half rally by the Quasars were quickly erased.
The Patriots opened the third quarter with a nine-play, 54-yard drive that ended with Schilling tossing a 10-yard touchdown pass to Wysong at the 8:47 mark. Wysong added the extra point to make it 33-6.
Patriot Clint Roozenboom blocked an SSC punt four plays later and teammate Brant Deutsch recovered the ball on the SSC 14. Reid scored on a three-yard run five plays later, and Wysong added the extra point for a 40-6 cushion with 4:55 left in the third stanza.
Reserves played the rest of the game for H-BC-E, and SSC outscored the Patriots 14-7 in the fourth quarter.
Leopold threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Scheevel with 7:43 remaining, and Mitchell Leopold scored on a one-yard run (a successful conversion pass from Tyler Leopold to Scheevel followed) with less than four minutes remaining.
H-BC-E countered with a 19-yard touchdown run and an extra point by Wysong with five seconds left to play.
After watching his offense rack up 462 total yards, Ellingson praised the play of his linemen.
"Our offense line did a good job," he said. "Schilling was able to complete 10 of 11 passses without even coming close to being sacked, and Reid and Leuthold were getting past the line of scrimmage without being touched because of the good surge our line was giving us up front."
Team statistics
H-BC-E: 317 rushing yards, 145 passing yards, 462 total yards, 17 first downs, four penalties for 25 yards, zero turnovers.
SSC: 115 rushing yards, 174 passing yards, 289 total yards, eight first downs, seven penalties for 40 yards, one turnover.
Individual statistics
Rushing: Reid 20-152, Leuthold 16-99, Schilling 5-8, Wysong 7-43, Dusty Seachris 4-15.
Passing: Schilling 10-11 for 145 yards, Travis Broesder 0-2 for zero yards.
Receiving: Metzger 8-110, Wysong 1-10, Reid 1-25.
Defense: Leuthold 13 tackles, Schilling seven tackles, Cody Scholten six tackles, Reid one interception, Pat Nelson one sack, Craig Gaul one sack, Roozenboom one blocked punt, Deutsch one blocked punt recovery.