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Big plays dog Bison in season-opening loss to Huskies
AURORA, Neb. -- "You take away the big plays," said McCook head football coach Jeff Gross, and the Aug. 24 final score might have been much different.
Aurora scored on several long plays in the first half to key a 26-13 victory over the Bison in the prep football season-opener for both teams. The battle of Class B gridiron giants was contested on the new artificial turf at Huskies Stadium in Aurora.
The difference in the game mainly was three big plays for the hosts, and McCook's inability to capitalize on scoring chances in the first half.
Aurora scored on the opening drive of the contest, but missed the extra point for a 6-0 lead. The Bison drove the ball deep in Aurora territory, but a third-down pass to Zayne Gillen in the flat was stopped for a loss. McCook settled for a 39-yard field goal by Jacob Riemann to pull the Bison within 6-3 midway through the first period.
Gillen recovered an Aurora fumble at the Huskies 22-yard line. On fourth and 2 from the Aurora 14, McCook took a delay penalty, then went for another field goal. But Riemann's attempt missed just left.
EARLY IN the second quarter, McCook was forced to punt near the end zone. Aurora's Ben McQuiston fielded the ball and scrambled 48 yards for a touchdown to boost the hosts to a 13-3 advantage.
Aurora got the ball back minutes later, and running back Brock Reichardt scrambled around left end 62 yards for another touchdown.
Later in the second period, McCook forced an Aurora punt and took over near midfield. Senior quarterback Austin Cherry, making his first varsity start under center, hit wide receiver Cody Wudtke on a pair of pass receptions covering 17 and 16 yards to push the ball to the Aurora 22.
After a five-yard loss, Cherry pitched a screen pass in the middle of the field to senior Jake Schlager, who seemingly evaded every Huskies defender on a highlight-reel 27-yard scoring run. Riemann's conversion kick got the bison back in the game, trailing 20-10 with just over two minutes left before intermission.
Two plays from scrimmage later, Aurora's McQuiston got behind the Bison defense, and quarterback Troy McDonald hit him in stride as McQuiston raced 70 yards for the score. Aurora took a 26-10 lead into the halftime locker room.
"Their (third) touchdown, just a matter of missing the tackle," Coach Gross said of Reichardt's long run. "We had them dead to rights, we read the play, we came up and we missed. We didn't play a lot of man coverage, but that was one of the few plays we were in man coverage with no safety help. When your secondary misses a tackle in man coverage, then they're going to run for awhile and that's what they did.
"We score (Schlager's screen pass gem), make a game of it, get it back where we need to, they go over the top for a 70-yard touchdown. You take those three plays away, and it's a whole different ball game.
"Now, they earned those plays, and we need to get better. But we should never give up those plays."
Javier Beltran made a big play for the Bison early in the third period, blocking an Aurora punt and recovering the ball at the Huskies 19. McCook committed a motion penalty on fourth down, forcing another field goal try, which Riemann booted good from 35 yards to cut the gap to 26-13.
The hosts put together a strong drive, moving the football inside the Bison 1-yard line. The McCook defense stopped running back Eli Bricker short of the end zone to take over on downs.
Cherry got McCook out of trouble on a big 39-yard option run on the following play. Later in the drive, Schlager ran 23 yards to put the bison in business at the Aurora 30.
Early in the final quarter, McCook kept the drive alive with a fourth-down plunge by Schlager, who earned the first down at the Huskies 19 with a strong second effort. McCook got to the Aurora 11, but a fumble and incomplete pass put the Bison 19 yards away from the end zone on fourth down. Cherry was stopped short, as the Huskies stopped another McCook threat.
Aurora then kept the ball for 16 plays, pushing to the Bison 10 before a fourth-down fake field goal was stopped by McCook with 2:36 remaining. The Bison couldn't get another first down, and after a punt, Aurora ran out the clock.
Coach Gross lamented on his offense's missed chances.
"How many scoring opportunities in the red zone did we have? We didn't execute when we needed to," Gross said. "You can blame an inexperienced line all you want, but when you move between the hashes, you've still got to be able to move it in the red zone, and we didn't do a very good job of that."
Cherry agreed with his head coach.
"We've got to learn how to punch it in the end zone," Austin said.
Gross said all his team's mistakes are fixable, and there's no panic in the Bison camp.
"It's been a long time since we've lost a week-one game, but we haven't played Aurora week one," he said. "They are a good team.
"We've got to work harder and go out and not make those mistakes, or we stand to drop another one, and we don't want that to happen. Now it's about getting better every day."
The Bison face another tough test when Scottsbluff invades Weiland Field Friday, Aug. 31. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.