Pirates' time runs out in playoffs

POLSON— It came down to the final 3:34 with the Pirates up 27-14, and all they had to do was hang on.

But the Anaconda Copperheads saw it differently, as they rallied to beat Polson with two touchdowns in the last couple minutes to hand the Pirates a heartbreaker of a loss last Saturday during first-round playoff action.

Following a Pirate touchdown in the fourth, the Copperheads drove the ball 80 yards in three plays and in about one minute to score on the Pirates, to make it 27-20. Anaconda then attempted an onside kick and recovered on the Pirates' 47.

Anaconda then inched their way up the field moving the ball each time to get first downs. Anaconda's QB Triston Spehar went down after a shot to his hip with a little less than two minutes left, and the Copperheads brought in freshman Matt King. King, who was unable to find an open man, made a drive on his own and made the first down for the Copperheads on the Polson 8-yard line.

Spehar came back into the game and on the first play he connected with Jared DeLong in the corner of the endzone to make the score 26-27. Anaconda went for two for the win, and Spehar found Corry Orrino open in the endzone and essentially ended the game, giving the ball back to Polson with only nine seconds on the clock.

Both teams battled it out all game, but Anaconda got the momentum they needed when it mattered, Polson coach Scott Wilson said.

"It has so much to do with momentum. Once they had some success, it just kept building. They made some huge plays. Putting two touchdowns on the board in three and a half minutes is a credit to their coaches and kids," Wilson said.

Bryce Picard led Polson with 103 yards rushing and two touchdowns. His longest run was a 50-yard TD in the fourth quarter which gave the Pirates a 21-13 advantage. Polson quarterback Craig Bagnell was 8-for-16 for 128 yards.

Picard got the team on the board with a 1-yard run in the second quarter, followed by a Morigeau PAT. Morigeau then caught a 37-yard TD pass from Bagnell in the third for the Pirates' second touchdown of the game.

The Pirates came alive in the fourth, as Picard scored on his big 50-yard run and then scored a 2-point conversion before Pat Dellwo recovered a fumble and ran it in later in the fourth for the Pirates' final TD.

But Ananconda continued to answer every Polson touchdown.

"We made a lot of great plays, but they made more. They made a huge run to start the second half, and as a coach, I'm standing on the sidelines wondering if the momentum had really changed," Wilson said. "But we struggled to stop them offensively all day. They hit some big passes on us right away."

Still, Wilson was proud of his players' efforts. It was just one of those games where someone had to lose, and there were several factors that could have gone the other way.

"I don't think our kids ever quit. It was a great high school football game. They go for two and miss, we would have won. It was going to be a heartbreaker for one team either way," Wilson said.

The bad news is that the Pirates will lose 18 to graduation this year.

"A lot of those seniors contributed in a lot of different ways. Hopefully, the younger kids saw the example those guys gave on the field, and those kids will want to continue the success they saw over the past couple of years," Wilson said.

The Pirates finished second in Northwestern A and closed the season at 7-2. Libby is still alive in playoff action, and conference players will be announced after Libby's run ends.