McCook knocks off Scottsbluff 17-15

Isaac Larson carries the ball against Scottsbluff Friday evening. Larson had two interceptions on the night to help McCook to a 17-15 win. Steve Towery/McCook Gazette.

McCOOK, Neb. -- It came down to the final play.

Trailing by two points with one second left, Scottsbluff had one more chance to pull off a win. With the ball at McCook's 38-yard line, quarterback Noah Bruner gave one final heave to the endzone.

Like most of the rest of the night, the Bison defense made the stop.

Bruner's last-second pass hit a few hands, but ultimately fell to the ground, giving McCook a 17-15 win over previously-unbeaten Scottsbluff at Weiland Field on Friday.

Of Scottsbluff's 15 points, only seven were given up by the Bison's defensive unit. Well below the Bearcats' previous average of 36 points per game.

"If we play defense like that the rest of the year, we're gonna be a tough out, I really believe that," said head coach Jeff Gross.

As expected, McCook (5-1) found itself in a close battle with Scottsbluff (5-1) all night.

After a scoreless first quarter, McCook got on the board with a four-yard touchdown run from Cade Cappel. Trae Koetter's extra point made it 7-0 Bison at the 9:31 mark of the second quarter.

Disaster would strike McCook on its next offensive series. With the ball at their own 23, the Bison's Zach Schlager fumbled and saw Scottsbluff's Keegan Reifschneider pick up the loose ball and take it to the house. The Bearcats converted a fake extra point attempt for two points to give the visitors an 8-7 advantage with 6:20 remaining in the half.

Right before intermission, McCook would retake the lead. Cappel set up the Bison with a chance to score, when he ran 62 yards down to the Scottsbluff three yard line with just 26 seconds remaining. After a penalty and negative play, the Bison had to settle for a 25-yard Koetter field goal with two seconds left to make it 10-7 in favor of the hosts.

"The difference in the game was (Cappel)'s run on third-and-long, when he broke a couple tackles to get us in field goal range," Gross said. "We kick a field goal off of his personal effort on that drive, and we ended up winning by two."

With a halftime score of 10-8, both teams knew they would have to make adjustments in order to win the game.

"We felt we were in the ballgame," Scottsbluff head coach Joe Benson said of the halftime score. "You just continue to do what you're doing well and make slight adjustments. You don't think much."

The Bison would extend their lead on their first offensive series of the second half. Cappel scored on a one-yard plunge to put the Bison ahead 17-8 with 4:03 left in the third quarter. The Bison had good fortune on the drive, as Jaret Matson recovered an offensive fumble at the Scottsbluff 12.

"Offensively, we made (halftime) adjustments to run the plays that we ran that drive," Gross said. "We were running the veer option, and Easton Gillen read it and ran it to perfection to score and get us a nine-point lead."

The Bearcats would not go quietly, however.

Scottsbluff's workhorse, Max Mason, put the game back within one score when he ran in a 17-yard touchdown with just one second left in the third quarter. The extra point was good, cutting McCook's lead to 17-15 heading into the final stanza.

McCook looked like it had clinched the win when Isaac Larson picked off a Bearcat pass on fourth down with 1:42 remaining. However, Scottsbluff would force a three-and-out and use their remaining timeouts to have one more chance. After a Bison punt, the Bearcats had their final drive start at their own 20 with 40 seconds remaining.

Scottsbluff got a break on second down, when a roughing the passer penalty gave the Bearcats an automatic first down at midfield. On the ensuing play, Bruner hit Braden Lofink to move the ball to McCook's 38 with seven seconds left.

On the final play of the game, McCook's defense made its stand, as Bruner's pass to Reifschneider fell incomplete as time expired.

"When you're going the length of the field, it's tough to score, especially against a great team like McCook," Benson said of the final drive.

The Bison outgained the Bearcats in offensive yards 240 to 212, with 201 coming on the ground.

Leading the way for McCook offensively was Cappel. The senior fullback had 11 carries for 111 yards and two scores. One stat that isn't kept is broken tackles, which Cappel certainly hit double digits in.

Cappel doesn't always get his number called on run plays, but when he does defenses know about it.

"It felt great," Cappel said about scoring two touchdowns. "I owe it all to my front line. They did awesome blocking for me and they did the job."

Also chipping in was Dunncan Rogers, who had 62 yards and a team-high 14 carries, and Schlager's 28 yards on nine carries. Schlager completed both of his pass attempts for a total of 31 yards.

Coming into the night as Class B's leading rusher, Mason had 126 yards on the night but it took him 26 carries to get there.

"Some will say that's a pretty good night for (Mason), and that is, but for them to win he's gotta have 26 carries for 200 yards," Gross said. "We just didn't allow him to get going."

Also making things difficult for Scottsbluff was defensive back Isaac Larson. The senior had two key interceptions to end Bearcat drives that were showing promise, including the one late in the fourth quarter.

"Isaac Larson played an unbelievable game in the secondary for us," Gross noted. "It was an unbelievable effort, he's our leader back there."

Schlager and DJ Gross would pace the defense with 15 and 14 tackles, respectively. Gillen got the start at safety and had nine tackles, while Gabe Sehnert stepped in for the injured Ben Bradley at linebacker and had ten stops.

Not to be forgotten, Coach Gross said special teams were a big advantage for McCook on Friday.

"Our special teams flipped the field," he noted. "Dunncan Rogers came in, after having a sore foot all week, and boomed the ball and flipped the field on his punts."

"We won the defensive phase and we definitely won the special teams phase, and if you win two out of three phases you're going to win."

Benson noted the difficulties made from McCook winning the field position battle.

"It sure would have been nice if we got the ball at the 50 one time."

With Friday's game in the books, McCook now begins district play. The Bison are on the road this week, as they travel to take on an improved Hastings squad. The Tigers are 4-2, and are coming off a 42-0 shutout win over Alliance.

When asked if the message will change now that district play starts, Gross said "absolutely."

"All of this was fun, this was great," he said about the non-district schedule. "But the most important games of the season now are the next three."

"This is when teams wane if they're not mature enough to handle the pressure, and we can't wane at all. This is where we have to pick up our intensity and play better defensively and offensively."

Box Score

Game Stats

Individual Stats

Rushing -- SB: Mason, 25-126; Bruner, 6-24; Busby, 5-16; DeOllos, 1-2; Lofink, 1-(-1). MC: Cappel, 11-111; Rogers, 14-62; Schlager 9-28.

Passing -- SB: Bruner, 5-10-45; rest of team, 0-1-0. MC: Schlager, 2-2-31; Gillen, 1-3-8.

Receiving -- SB: Lofink, 2-21; #22 1-11; Walker, 1-9; Mason, 1-4. MC: Larson, 2-31; Gross, 1-8.

Tackling -- Schlager, 15; Gross, 14; Sehnert, 10; Gillen, 9; Giron, 8; Langan, 8; Matson, 7; Taylor, 7; Larson, 6; Rogers, 6; five players with one tackle each.

Kick Returns -- SB: DeOllos, 2-36; Busby, 1-18; Richter, 1-7. MC: no return yards.

Punt Returns -- SB: Moore, 1-3. MC: Sehnert, 1-20.

Punting -- SB: Moore, 5-25. MC: Rogers, 6-36.