Twin Toppled: Arlee is headed to first State Championship game in 29 years

On an unseasonably warm November afternoon in Arlee, hundreds of people sporting red lined the edge of a mostly brown football field, hoping to see their football team make their first trip to a state championship game in 29 years.

The Arlee Warriors did not disappoint.

In their third game of the playoffs, the Warriors took on the Twin Bridges Falcons, the number one seed out of the southern division. After a close game last week against Wibaux, the Warriors knew they were in for more of the same.

Twin was coming off a 35-21 win over CJI the week before, and kept their momentum going, scoring on their first drive of the game. The Arlee defense didn’t make it easy for them, as they had caused a fumble early on in the drive that the Falcons were able to recover. Twin missed the point after wide, and would keep a 6-0 lead until the second quarter. Early on, it became apparent that Twin wasn’t going to let Arlee make plays through the air. They were able to shut down Tyler Tanner, who was part of five touchdowns last week.

In the second quarter, Arlee had a good drive going and decided to go for it on a fourth down in Twin territory. BigSam dropped back looking for his favorite receiver, Tanner, and under threw the ball by a few yards, leading to an interception around the ten-yard line. The good news was that as a fourth down play, it was as good as a punt, and Arlee had Twin backed up into their own red zone.

On the next play, Brad Brazill sacked the Twin quarterback for a nine yard loss. With Twin on their own one-yard line, the Arlee defense sent everyone, and BigSam took down the ball carrier in the end zone for an Arlee safety, making the score 6-2 Twin Bridges with seven minutes left in the half.

Four minutes later, on fourth down, the Falcons’ center snapped the ball over the head of punter, and Arlee recovered the ball on the three-yard line. On the next play, BigSam powered through the middle for another Arlee score, putting them up 8-6 with three minutes left in the half.

After stopping a Twin drive, Arlee had a chance to drive down the field with a minute left. A hook and ladder from Harold Yocum to Brad Brazill had the Warriors in good field position, but they weren’t able to finish, and took a two point lead into half.

After two quarters of Tyler Tanner being shut down, he took matters into his own hands on the opening kickoff of the third quarter. Isaac Desjarlais caught the kick, pitched it to Tanner, and he took it 76 yards to put the Warriors up 14-6. Desjarlais had his hands in on another great play a few minutes later, when he stripped a Twin player, giving Arlee the ball back.

That play wouldn’t lead to any points, but with around six minutes left in the third, Twin, who seemed to be backed into their own red zone a lot, found themselves punting from the one-yard line. Desjarlais took the punt and ran it back for what looked like another score. A penalty brought the ball back, canceling the touchdown run.

Shortly after, a bad snap by Arlee on fourth down gave Twin the ball with excellent field position, leading to a 40-yard touchdown pass that tied the score up at 14.

After a few more back and forth drives, the Warriors decided to mix things up a little, sending BigSam sprinting down the sideline as Tanner dropped back as QB. That play had worked a number of times throughout the season, but Twin wasn’t biting, and a scrambling Tanner was forced to throw the ball a few yards short. BigSam went up for the ball against two defenders, but one of those defenders came down with it. That was Arlee’s second, and last, turnover of the day.

Early on in the fourth, Arlee had Twin backed up on third down, but after a 22-yard pass, it looked like the Falcons were gaining some momentum. On the next play, they converted the fourth down play by inches.

That drive came to an abrupt halt when Harold Yocum intercepted a pass. Yocum, who had his second important interception in two weeks, ran the ball back a few yards. Shortly after, BigSam would scramble up the middle for a 23-yard touchdown run that put Arlee up 22-14 with six and a half minutes left in the game.

With just over two minutes left, Arlee’s Colt Brazill sacked the Twin Bridges quarterback on a fourth and short, and the crowd went wild. With the ball back and less than two minutes to go, Arlee converted one more first down, and the clock ran out on Twin Bridges’ undefeated season.

On Monday, coach Todd Yocum said Twin had the toughest defense they had faced all year. “It turned into a real grinder. They had us figured out on offense. We knew we were going to have to do some things different,” he said. In this case, “different” meant throwing in some different plays, like the reverse lateral to Tanner on the opening kickoff of the second half. Yocum was also quick to mention most of his players by name, including names like Rory Bird and Colt Brazill, who both had an excellent game for the Warriors. “It was not an easy win,” he said, “Everybody had to do their job.”

Arlee will travel to Chinook this weekend to take on the Sugarbeeters for the Class C Eight-Man State Championship.

The Warriors have played in two other championship games. The first was in 1981, when they defeated Park City by a score of 48-0. Five years later, Arlee took their second trip to the chipper, this time losing to Terry by a score of 18-46.

Chinook defeated Fairview by a score of 50-32 in the other semifinal game. They competed in the championship game last year, where they lost to Wibaux. They are led by senior Ian McIntosh, who has thrown for over 1400 yards and ran for 388.

Yocum said that after the game, his guys were excited, but quickly started thinking ahead. “They were very happy, but quickly their minds went to Chinook.” He said they’ve been watching game film of Chinook since Saturday night after their win.

For small towns, post season games are sometimes the most exciting thing to happen all year. “It’s a big deal in small communities,” Yocum said, “It’s really about the kids and the seniors. Most of the guys are used to the big stage. They’ve been to state in basketball before.”

That’s true, as many of the players on the football team also play basketball. In fact, they should be starting practice on Thursday. Arlee’s Athletic Director, Bill Stockton, said the teams who are playing in the state championship games this weekend are exempt from the Montana High School Association’s ten practice rule.

According to MHSA rules, before participating in a game, players have to have ten practices finished. In Arlee’s case, they get to count their football practices as part of their ten practices for basketball.

Twin Bridges - 6 0 8 0 - 14

Arlee - 0 8 6 8 - 22

First quarter

TB - Tracen Eggers 14 pass yard from Chace Guinnane (kick failed), 6:52

Second quarter

A - Safety, 7:00

A - BigSam 3 yard run (run failed), 3:13

Third quarter

A - Tyler Tanner 76 yard kickoff return (run failed), 11:43

TB - Cooper Christensen 40 yard pass from Guinnane (Colby Minert run), 4:05

Fourth quarter

A - BigSam 23 yard run (Issac Desjarlais from Bigsam), 6:36