Big plays in final quarter boost Bison to big football road win

ALLIANCE, Nebraska -- Alliance probably would have been judged to win more battles than McCook did through the first three quarters of their Class B high school football showdown Friday, Sept. 10. But the Bison won the most important ones later in the contest to claim the most important battle -- the one on the scoreboard.

McCook used a strong fourth quarter to rally for a 31-20 win over the host Bulldogs. The Bison outscored Alliance 21-10 in the final 12 minutes to remain unbeaten in three starts early in this season, while Alliance suffered its first loss of the year.

The Bulldogs compiled 356 total yards compared to 333 for McCook. Alliance switched gears from a usual potent rushing attack and threw the ball 41 times against the Bison, gaining 267 yards through the air and another 89 on the ground. McCook rushed for 250 yards and threw for 83 more.

Trailing 13-10 early in the fourth quarter, Bison quarterback Matt Chitwood fooled everyone in the stadium with a fake handoff to fullback Justin Terry. Chitwood kept the ball and ran untouched on the option keeper for a 60-yard touchdown sprint. Matt's conversion kick put McCook ahead 17-13.

Alliance answered with an 80-yard pass play, as quarterback Isaac Burnham hooked up with Kyle Hooper for the long touchdown on a screen pass to put the Bulldogs back in control at 20-17.

McCook came back with a scoring drive, as Chitwood found tight end Matt Collicott for a 7-yard TD strike. Chitwood's PAT kick put McCook up for good at 24-20.

Key Bison defensive stand

The Bison defense then stood tall with a pair of sacks, including a big third-down tackle by Jake Schlager when he nailed Burnham at the Alliance 5-yard line. McCook head coach Jeff Gross said the Bison defense came up big in not letting Alliance re-take control of the contest.

"We kind of got after them and we had two sacks," Gross said. "(Alliance) had no choice but to have to punt it back to us at that point."

Icing on the cake

McCook moved the ball downfield as the clock wound down. Alliance was out of timeouts, and the Bison were poised to run out the clock after picking up a first down. But a blocking infraction pushed McCook back outside the Bulldogs 40-yard line.

Chitwood connected on his third touchdown pass of the night and his second to wide receiver Cody Wudtke, who slipped behind the Alliance defense to haul in the 41-yard scoring strike and put a dagger in any hopes for an Alliance rally.

"The first down was probably going to allow us to run out the clock. That's all we needed. They were out of time outs," Gross said. "Now we've got second down and 16, and we ran an inside play (for a short gain). Now it's third down and (long) -- this is a manageable deal, they're going to be thinking we'll be running it."

Gross and his offensive coaches called for a curl route, one of McCook's passing game staples.

"(Alliance) jumped the curl -- the guy that jumped the curl was the guy that was covering Cody. That left Cody either one-on-one with a better angle, or he got behind somebody. He got behind and Matt saw that and threw it up, and Cody made a great catch. That sealed the deal."

Wudtke also had a 6-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter to give the Bison a 7-3 lead. Chitwood later added a 42-yard field goal to put McCook ahead 10-3 at intermission.

Alliance running back Mitch Pancost scored on a 15-yard run in the third period to pull his team into a 10-10 tie. Kyle Sanders kicked his second 37-yard field goal of the night early in the fourth period (he hit the first in the first period for the first points of the game) to give the hosts a 13-10 lead before Chitwood answered with his long scoring run.

"We had some big plays, we had some big runs," Gross said. "Wudtke made a big play and Chitwood obviously threw it. Matt made a big play on the option game. On the second and 10s, or third and four's, even though they may not be huge runs, but a 15-yard burst by Jake, or a 12-yard burst by Justin, they were big enough for us at the time.

"Offensively we kind of came alive in the fourth quarter and put up 21 points. That's the first quarter this year we've been able to put up multiple scores. We just haven't been able to get that offense on track maybe like I thought. Seventy five points in three games -- but you've got to remember, the teams we've played are all 2-1, and all those losses are to us. We've played some better defenses, but I really thought we would put up a few more points to date."

Bison stat leaders

Chitwood finished with 109 rushing yards on 11 carries. Jake Schlager added 79 yards on 15 attempts, and Justin Terry chipped in 69 yards on 15 carries.

Chitwood completed 6 of 11 passes for 83 yards and the three touchdowns. Wudtke caught three aerials for 55 yards and his two scores, while Matt Collicott had two catches for 18 yards and a touchdown. Schlager also had one pass reception for 10 yards.

Schlager again anchored the Bison defense with 30 points (including six unassisted tackles), with Austin Cherry next with 23 points (including 10 solo stops), then Justin Terry with 21 points (8 unassisted stops).

Coach Gross felt Alliance might have capitalized on a little McCook hangover from a 16-13, double-overtime win over Aurora a week earlier. Alliance was running past Class C-1 Gordon-Rushville 31-12, in action Sept. 2.

"I'm going to give Alliance a lot of credit. I thought they really showed up with a great game plan," Gross said. "They tried taking advantage of the fact that we probably weren't at our best and we were coming off a big game, and they in return had a blowout victory over Gordon-Rushville. I really do feel like we were very fortunate to go up there and survive that ball game and walk away with a win."

One more long trip

The Bison have one more monster road trip to the Nebraska panhandle when when take the 250-mile drive to Gering Friday, Sept. 17. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Central Time on the Bulldogs' home turf.

McCook opened the season Aug. 26 with a trip to Gering's next-door neighbor, Scottsbluff, then the home classic against Aurora Sept. 2 and another long trip to Alliance last week.

"That is a big deal, and I said when that schedule came out, if we're 3-1 or 4-0 we're a pretty good football team, and I still believe that," Gross said. "But we're not going up to Gering with the intent of being 3-1. But everybody's got to know -- Gering's a good football team."