Pirates make mighty stand

Mike Cast

POLSON - The Pirates came out fired up against the Miles City Cowboys on Saturday and played their game. They played it like they had everything to win or lose; but when the clock hit zero and the game was over, the scoreboard read 26-20 in favor of the Cowboys.

Above all, head coach Scott Wilson said he was proud of his boys.

"They had a valiant effort," Wilson said.

The game was one of ups and downs, each team pinning the other in bad spots and each team emerging from those holes and scoring to keep itself in the game. It was no boring game. Polson kept it close but couldn't end it on top.

"We just didn't convert. The key is you need to convert when you get into the red zone," Wilson said.

Wilson said his team came out a little slow but quickly adjusted and began playing the way he was used to all season.

A trend that would continue started early in the first quarter when the Cowboys, unable to move the ball on the ground, found a receiver just beyond Polson's safety to go for 80 yards and a touchdown. The Cowboys led 6-0.

"It came down to them making more plays than we did," Wilson said.

Another Cowboys score made it 12-0. Polson didn't back down and met the opposition with a score of its own in the second quarter.

Junior running backs Tim Rausch and Joe Andrews split time crushing into and throwing jukes around the Cowboy line and secondary, urging the ball to the 24-yard-line. Senior quarterback Craig Bagnell then faked a handoff and spun to the outside in a perfectly executed play-action maneuver. As the blitz rolled through, he found junior running back Brock Picard, who somersaulted to the 1-yard-line after a quick dash. Bagnell then took it himself for the score. It was 12-6 Cowboys.

The Cowboys kept the pressure on, scoring another touchdown with a two-point conversion to bring the half to a close with a 20-6 lead.

A new Polson team came out with fire in its eyes in the second. Excepting a couple of missed chances that would haunt the Pirates as the half progressed, they got themselves back in it and made it anybody's football game again.

"In the second half the kids played with a lot of emotion and decided to turn it up a notch," Wilson said.

On the opening Cowboys possession, senior wide receiver Ryan Kelley blasted through a Cowboy, resulting in a Polson fumble recovery. The Pirates quickly turned the ball up field with a couple of passes to Andrews and sophomore Kyle Bagnell. Within close range however, the Pirates landed the ball a yard short of the first and had to turn it over to the Cowboys on downs just that close to the touchdown. The miss would hurt them in the end.

A big defensive stop later and the Pirates had the ball back. A long drive that saw many different Pirates carrying the football brought the team to the 2-yard-line where Rausch punched it in. With 37 seconds to go in the third, it was now 20-13 Cowboys.

Down only seven, Polson's defense wanted the ball back. On the kick-off return, big No, 77, junior defensive lineman Kaden Thomas splattered the ball carrier for another Polson fumble recovery.

Polson responded with a promising drive that ended with an interception for the Cowboys. The Polson defense wasn't ready to give up yet.

Big tackles and penalty trouble forced the Cowboys to punt the ball right back to Polson.

The Pirates couldn't convert and on the following Miles City drive things started out well but turned out tragic for the team in purple.

Continuing to stop Cowboys' famed running backs in the key moments, a defensive Polson onslaught ended when a monster sack by Andrews and a penalty stuck Miles City on third down with 18 yards to go. Again, the Cowboys used a deep receiver and pulled themselves out of a bad situation with a touchdown. It was 26-13 Cowboys with five minutes to go. That score was the dagger.

After a nice return by Andrews, The Pirates tried some trickery when Craig threw a lateral pass to Kyle who then launched it downfield to Kelley. It was a good pass but the coverage was near and the ball dropped to the field. Craig led his team to the promise-land anyway when another pass to Kyle, this time a forward one, landed the Pirates in the end zone and again just a score away from a victory. The scoreboard said 26-20 Cowboys with three minutes left to play.

An onside kick failed but the Polson defense prevailed, making another stop and forcing another Cowboys punt with 1:45 left to go. Polson turned the ball over as they scrambled to get it down field, and despite a desperate comeback attempt, there was no comeback. All said and done, the Cowboys will advance and the Pirates will wait another year.

Wilson said the Cowboys were known as a rushing team, usually content to utilize their big backs and move the ball down field slowly but surely. Having a phenomenal second half, Polson's defense was able to throw a wrench in the Cowboys' driving game, forcing punts and pinning them with long third and fourth after sacks.

It was the Cowboys' use of long passing plays in dire straits that let them escape the Pirates' trap.

"They were more successful passing than we would have hoped," Wilson said.

Proud of his boys and how far they had come, Wilson said his senior class had contributed with talented plays, hard work and leadership all season, and their final game was no difference.

"Our senior class played very well," he said.

With a solid defense and running core returning, Wilson said he believed next year should be another strong one for the Pirates.

Finishing the season with totals of 1800 yards rushing and 1357 yards passing, and coming off the year's premier defensive performance, Polson has a powerful foundation to build on a team that keeps getting better.