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Polson falls at Hamilton

by Mark Robertson
| November 7, 2013 6:00 AM

HAMILTON – Polson’s football season came to an end Saturday with a 24-21 loss at Hamilton in the first round of the Class A playoffs.

Down 21-7 at the half, Polson rallied to make it a football game, but a drive stalled out on downs in Hamilton territory during the contest’s waning minutes.

The first half was a nightmare for Polson.

“We dug ourselves a pretty big deficit,” Pirate coach Scott Wilson said. “We struggled to start anything offensively.”

The touchdown came on an electrifying 93-yard kickoff return from senior Cedrick Smith. “It gave us a little bit of momentum. We didn’t take real advantage of it at that point it time. …It at least allowed us to get our feet back under us.”

True to the 2013 season’s form, Polson turned out a much better second half.

“About midway through the third quarter, we started to play well defensively and get us the ball back,” Wilson said.

They capitalized on huge stops from freshmen Matthew Rensvold and Tanner Wilson, who led the Pirates in tackles on Saturday, registering 11 and eight, respectively.

Polson quarterback Andrew Weltz cobbled together a respectable day, completing 15 of 27 passes for 153 yards and rushing for another 63. He ran for a touchdown and threw another to Smith. Both of Weltz’s interceptions came on hail mary passes, the first as time wound down in the first half and the second as the Pirates tried to get into field goal range with mere seconds remaining in the game.

Despite a season in which much didn’t go as hoped, Wilson said he was proud of his team for rallying to make a postseason appearance.

“We ended up being a fairly inexperienced, young team,” said Wilson. “I think we kind of started to gel a little bit late.”

The Pirates lose some big guns like Weltz, running back/linebacker Brady Hislop, Smith and two-way lineman Wyatt Jenson, but there is plenty of youth returning with experience. Rensvold and Tanner Wilson both finished the season as starters, and sophomore Hudson Smith was a two-way starter as well.

“We’re losing a good core of seniors and we’re going to be fairly young, but we will have a lot of kids with experience,” Wilson said. “I was real pleased with the play of those young kids.”

The Pirates end the season with a 5-4 overall record, finishing 2-2 in the Northwest A conference.