By John Rittenhouse
What has been an outstanding 2001 football season for the Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth Patriots became even more impressive Friday in Westbrook.
Taking on the defending Minnesota State nine-man football champion Westbrook-Walnut Grove Chargers, H-BC-E put another big feather in its hat by recording a 7-6 win.
The victory assured the Patriots of at least a share of the Southwest Ridge Conference championship. A win during last nightÕs regular season finale against Lakeview in Hills would clinch the crown outright for the Patriots.
Even more important than the league implications, the win in Westbrook moved the Patriots closer to the No. 1 seed for the Section 1 Playoffs. If the Patriots beat Lakeview last night, the No. 1 seed, and the first-round bye that goes along with it, would be theirs.
"It was a huge win for us," said Patriot coach Dan Ellingson, the mentor of a team that moved up into the fifth position on the latest Minnesota State Nine-Man football poll.
"It assured us of at least a share of the conference championship, and it was even more important for us in the terms of section seedings. We could get the No. 1 seed, a first-round bye and not have to play until the section semifinals Oct. 27."
There was nothing easy about beating the defending state champion Chargers on their home field Friday.
The teams battled to a scoreless draw in the first half before H-BC-E drew first blood by scoring seven points in the third quarter. W-WG found the end zone late in the fourth quarter, but a failed two-point conversion attempt clinched the win for the Patriots.
Although the first half was scoreless, Ellingson said the momentum favored the Patriots after a sequence of possessions in the second quarter.
W-WG was making a bid to open the scoring when it advanced the ball inside the H-BC-E 10-yard line. On fourth-and-goal from the three, the Chargers tried a play-action pass with the W-WG quarterback passing to a running back in the flat. Just as the ball touched the intended receiver's hands, Patriot linebacker Jesse Leuthold delivered a hit that jarred the ball loose and the pass fell incomplete.
Pinned deep in their own territory, the Patriot offense came up with an important series that featured it moving the ball from its own three to the W-WG 35. The drive ended with the Chargers intercepting a pass on their own 11, but that didn't seem to bother Ellingson.
"Those two series were big turning points in the game," Ellingson said. "First we stop them with a goal-line stand, then weÕre able to march the ball downfield instead of giving them good field position. They were in control of the game at that point. Then we were able to establish control of the game."
The first of three important interceptions produced by the Patriot defense helped the H-BC-E offense break the scoreless deadlock in the third quarter.
Chris Reid intercepted the pass on the W-WG 40, which set up a scoring drive capped by a one-yard touchdown plunge by Lyle DeBoer. Tyler Bush booted the important extra point to give the Patriots a 7-0 lead.
The score remained 7-0 until there were less than five minutes left to play in the fourth quarter. W-WG broke through with a two-yard touchdown run with 4:30 left to play, but a pass for a two-point conversion was picked off by Patriot Brad Haak, preserving H-BC-E's 7-6 edge.
H-BC-E had to punt to W-WG as the fourth quarter progressed, and the Chargers picked up a first down by completing a third-and-12 pass. W-WGÕs final opportunity to pull in front ended moments later, when Patriot lineman Kyle Braun deflected a pass that was intercepted by DeBoer with 1:00 left to play. The Patriot offense ran the remaining time off the clock.
"Our defense really played well," Ellingson said. "All three of the interceptions we came up with were big ones."
Team statistics
H-BC-E: 170 rushing yards, zero passing yards, 170 total yards, 11 first downs, three penalties for 17 yards, two turnovers.
W-WG: 111 rushing yards, 166 passing yards, 277 total yards, 14 first downs, four penalties for 25 yards, three turnovers.
Individual statistics
Rushing: Reid 19-71, DeBoer 17-87, Kevin Van Batavia 1-6, Chris Tiesler 2-5, David Top 2-1.
Passing: Top 0-3 for zero yards.
Defense: Curt Schilling 12 tackles, Leuthold 10 tackles, DeBoer six tackles, one sack, one interception, two knocked down passes, Reid six tackles and one interception, Brant Deutsch six tackles, Haak five tackles and one interception.