Ronan comes oh-so-close to win over Browning

John Zsiray

Leader Staff

BROWNING— Coming within two minutes of their first win in three years the Ronan Chiefs walked away with a heartbreaker loss to the Browning Indians last Friday night, losing 6-7.

It came down to the final minutes of the game. The Chiefs were up 6-0 and needed to just hold onto the ball in order to leave Browning with a win and the confidence and momentum to start the season in the black. But being unable to hold onto the ball was what dropped Ronan from the win column Friday.

"We had too many turnovers; we had three in their redzone and three in ours," said head coach Jamie Courville. "They can't just play 46 minutes of football, they have to play 48 to win."

With just over two minutes left, QB Alan Skogen scooted in from about six yards out, but they couldn't get the crucial PAT, giving them a 6-0 lead. The Indians went on a 40-yard run in the last two minutes to place the ball in the endzone, and after a successful point after it left Ronan hanging on with 45 seconds left in the game to work something out.

"After they scored there was 45 seconds left. If we would have connected we could have made it happen. Hopefully they learned from it," said Courville.

Despite the loss the Chiefs walked away with a learning experience, Courville said. The defense went out on the field with four minutes left and they called a play to block a punt on the Indians' fourth down. Courville sent in Greg Avila to aide in the play, and Avila executed the play and stopped the punt.

"[We] called for a blocked punt, Greg made the play and it was exciting to see him make that play. I know that he was excited also," Courville said.

The defense bailed out the team many times after the offense recorded six turnovers. There were three fumbles within the Indian 20-yard line and also again three more times in their own red zone. The Chiefs defense was led by Logan Lloyd and Chris Lawson, Courville said.

"Our defense worked hard and saved us several times, but we can't have six turnovers," said Courville. "Logan Lloyd did outstanding at defense and Chris Lawson filled the holes really well."

Skogen had 11 attempts with five completions for a total of 60 yards. Lloyd stepped up on the line and played tough alongside Woodrow Wayman to help the offense record 35 rushes for 175 yards against the Indian defense, Courville said.

"Our offense needed to execute more. I was pleased with our rushing but we made some critical errors at wrong times and missed some opportunities," said Coach Courville.

Despite the loss this was still a nonconference game and will not set the Chiefs back as they look forward to the conference opener on September 8 against Columbia Falls on the road. The Chiefs will play their first home game on Friday against Frenchtown in another nonconference game slated for 7 p.m. in Ronan.

"This was our first game and we didn't mesh right," Courville said. "Our base will change a little bit different for Frenchtown. We will work on getting everything to mesh well and get things rolling and take care of the ball when we have the opportunity. This was a tough one to swallow and there was some emotion after the game but I wouldn't expect anything less."