Chiefs down Pirates for first time in nearly two decades

RONAN — To reference the last time Ronan came out on the winning end of the Polson-Ronan rivalry you have to revert all the way back to the year 2000 when they won 32-6.

The Polson-Ronan rivalry was put on the shelf when Ronan moved to Class B and Polson continued to play their Class A competition. Neither team would battle each other in a meaningful football game for another six years.

This season, the two teams, which clashed on Ronan’s homecoming night, weren’t just battling for bragging rights. They battled to keep their season alive. Both teams were a combined 0-6 headed into the game but had the opportunity to begin their conference play off on the right foot.

Both coaches, Ronan’s Matt Detwiler and Polson’s Pat Danley, concurred the loser of this team would have their work cut out for them the rest of the year to try to earn a playoff spot.

Ronan answered the call, beating Polson for the first time in 17 years 32-19 Friday night at Ronan High School. The Chiefs’ football team was battling both the distractions of homecoming and the first time the two teams clashed in a meaningful game in six years.

Detwiler, whose team is now 1-0 in conference play, said he felt his team handled the hectic week well.

“They handled all of the distractions really well and I am really proud of them in that aspect,” Detwiler said. “Talk about distractions. Homecoming is usually at the top of the distraction list for high schoolers. It makes a lot of memories but football is the focus. At the time, there is an assembly every day at lunch, a pep assembly, and a parade.”

Detwiler said he was “confident” in how his team was going to play during the homecoming parade.

“I noticed that our team was relaxed and they were just joking around and having fun,” Detwiler said. “I would have been a little bit worried if they weren’t pretty relaxed and ready to go (prior to the game). It was good to see them handle it with a lot of maturity.”

At the start of the first half, the Chiefs scored the first 24 points of the football game.

In the first quarter, Ezekiel Misa rushed for a 6-yard run to score a touchdown to give the Chiefs a 6-0 lead with 9:36 left in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Chiefs increased their lead when quarterback Eric Dolence connected with Happy Cheff for a 29-yard completion that gave the Chiefs a 12-0 lead.

Four minutes later, Misa scored again. Misa ran for a 19-yard touchdown run with 5:09 left in the first half. After the third consecutive failed 2-point conversion, the Chiefs led 18-0.

Dolence again connected with Cheff for a 39-yard touchdown that gave them a 24-0 lead.

The Pirates grabbed the momentum late in the first half. Bo Kelley connected with Trevor Schultz for a 23-yard touchdown pass. An unsuccessful 2-point conversion made the score 24-6.

Kelley scored on a 1-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 24-12 headed into halftime.

When Polson took the momentum into halftime, Detwiler said he was “concerned” and also stated he never was comfortable until the final portion of the game.

“Polson just showed its resilience during that game,” Detwiler said. “I wasn’t comfortable with our lead until the last siren went off because they went into halftime with a ton of momentum. Even when we were up by 20 I still didn’t feel comfortable. They were right there in that football game. That is a good football team and both teams have really good athletes. Neither Polson or Ronan have yet to put a full game together but we played a lot better. We didn’t make a lot of major errors and this was the best our team had played all season.”

The Chiefs got their momentum back late in the third quarter when Misa scored his third touchdown on a 35-yard run. Dolence and Misa connected again on the 2-point conversion attempt to make the score 32-12.

In the fourth quarter, Kelley connected with Koby Garcia for a 10-yard touchdown pass to make the score 32-19 at the start of the fourth quarter. Neither team would score after that.

One of the reasons Polson struggled against Ronan was because they were unable to establish or score any points in the first quarter, Danley said.

“We have just not been able to score early in games,” Danley said. “In four games, we have yet to be able to score in the first quarter. We are moving the ball a little bit. We had a chance with the score being 24-12 at halftime and on our first drive in the second half, we drop a big touchdown pass. That was a momentum swing. Had we made that play, it might have been a different story.”

Danley said he and his coaching staff had a discussion after the game on what they could do to get an additional boost of early momentum as they prepare to head into the next game.

“Honestly, I don’t know what we have to do to get a faster start,” Danley said. “When my staff and I meet, that is high on the agenda along with what things we are going to do during the week and Friday night. That is a huge issue and we are going to get it figured out soon.”

Leading up to the Polson-Ronan game, Danley said he felt his team had a “solid practice.”

“That is a strange thing,” Danley said. “For example, we had a great practice Wednesday and looked really sharp. It didn’t come to fruition.”

Win, lose or draw, Detwiler preaches to his team that they have 24 hours to feel good or bad about the game and then it’s on the the next game as they prepare for a road game against Whitefish Friday night at Whitefish High School.

“It’s been a great past 24 hours and hopefully we are over it,” Detwiler said. “Now we have moved onto next week.”

Ronan 32, Polson 19

The last time the Chiefs emerged victorious over the Pirates on the gridiron was 32-6 back on October 28, Y2K. Polson (0-1 NWA, 0-4), Ronan (1-0 NWA, 1-3)

Polson 0 12 0 7 – 19

Ronan 6 18 8 0 – 32

R – Zeke Misa 6 run (kick failed)

R – Hap Cheff 29 pass from Eric Dolence (run unsuccessful)

R – Zeke Misa 19 run (kick failed)

R – H.Cheff 29 pass from Dolence (kick blocked)

P – Trevor Schultz 23 pass from Bo Kelley (pass incomplete)

P – Kelley 1 run (pass incomplete)

R – Misa 35 run (Misa pass from Dolence)

P – Koby Garcia 10 pass from Kelley (Connor Lanier kick)

RUSH – P38-130 (Koby Garcia 16-75, Kelley 19-47, Kyle Druyvestein 2-9, Colby Soderquist 1-(-)1), R34-154 (Z.Misa 19-116, H.Cheff 6-19, Dolence 5-9, Noah Cheff 3-8, Justin Mays 1-2). PASS – P11-131 (Kelley 11-32-131-2), R9-120 (Eric Dolence 9-15-120-1). REC – P 11-131 (Trevor Schultz 3-49, Haden Smith 2-37, Ryker Wenderoth 3-25, Parker Toth 1-10, Garcia 2-10), R9-120 (H.Cheff 4-93, Z.Misa 1-35, N.Cheff 1-7, Kane McAllister 1-2, Mays 2-(-)17). FG – P0-1 (1Q Connor Lanier 40). KICKOFF – P3-135 (Connor Lanier), R5-141 (Chris Jenson). PUNT – P2-34 (Lanier), R4-38 (H.Cheff). KORET – P5-102 (Druyvestein 1-42, Garcia 2-30, Andrey Bauer 2-30), R3-45 (H.Cheff 2-45, Sterling Stagg 1-0). PUNTRET – P1-7 (Wenderoth), R0. FMBLRCV – P1 (Bauer), R1 (2Q Ethan Christopher). FMBLCAUS – Bauer. BLKPAT – P1. BLKPUNT – R1 (2Q Elijah Durheim). BLK(pancake) – P2 (Hunter Fritsch, Wyatt Goode), BLKPUNTRCV – R1 (Elijah Durheim). PD – Wenderoth. INT – P1 (Schultz), R2 (1Q Misa, 4Q H.Cheff). SACK – P (Druyvestein), R na. TFL– P2 (Druyvestein 1½, Smith ½), R10 (T.Kelsch 3, Mays, Skelton, N.Cheff, Mocabee, Misa Christopher, Largent) HARASS – P4 (Weston Danley 3, Dillon Ellerman). TKL/ASST – P15t51a (Hunter Fritsch 3t12a, Bauer 2t8a, Druyvestein 2t8a, Garcia 2t6a, Smith 2t3a, Schultz 2t, Noah Humprey 4a, Adrian Millian 4a, Bradon Williams 2a, Wyatt Goode 2a, Toth 1t, Seth Lake 1t, Garrett Croft 1a, Ellerman 1a), R33t (Tyler Kelsch 6t, Mays 4t, Jordan Skelton 4t, Stagg 3t, N.Cheff 3t, Sam Mocabee 3t, Z.Misa 2t, Ethan Christopher 2t, H.Cheff 1t, Bruin Largent 1t, Daniel Kelsch 1t, Landon Lynch 1t, Elijah Durheim 1t, Vinny BirdWebster 1t). (Fr22Sep17)