Beatrice goes back to basics to beat Pius X
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BY RYLY JANE HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star
BEATRICE — When the Beatrice football team took the field Friday, the Orangemen were a bit like a wounded animal.
Beatrice went back to basic football this week and the result was a dominating performance in a 30-13 victory against Lincoln Pius X.
“Last week kind of bruised their ego a little bit,” Beatrice coach Bob Sexton said of his team’s 41-14 loss to Waverly. “We challenged them to stop the run. I don’t know what they (the Thunderbolts) had offensively, but I know against our starters, they didn’t get a lot.
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“We were very physical. We took a page out of Waverly’s game last week. We just lined up and it was kind of smash-mouth football.”
Sexton said the Orangemen didn’t go after any specific aspect of the Pius X offense.
“We really didn’t key on one thing. We just came out and went back to basic football and taught our linebackers our basic fundamentals on reads,” he said. “I think Garrett Bruhn and Nick Bell, our inside linebackers, had an outstanding game.”
By the time Beatrice had taken a 30-0 lead early in the fourth quarter, the defense had allowed Pius X just 79 total yards, all on the ground. The Thunderbolts finished with 175 yards, scoring on two straight possessions.
“They were very physical and we just didn’t respond very well,” said Pius X coach Tim Aylward. “We got pushed around, especially up front. They did a nice job of controlling the ball and controlling the line of scrimmage.
“They got some key conversions on third and fourth downs that were really costly for us.”
The Orangemen drove 77 yards in 12 plays on their first possession of the game. Beatrice converted a fourth down and overcame a holding penalty early in the drive, then took advantage of a pair of Pius X penalties. Bell plowed over from the 2-yard line and kicked the extra point.
The second time Beatrice had the ball, the Orangemen converted on a pair of fourth downs before finally settling for a 42-yard field goal by Bell.
After forcing Pius X to punt again, quarterback Justin Coleman took over. On the first play, he appeared to be stuck in the backfield, but instead shed tacklers and picked up 25 yards. One play later, he took off to his right before cutting back to his left and racing 38 yards for a TD and a 17-0 lead.
The Thunderbolts picked up a pair of first downs to open the second half before Beatrice again stiffened and forced a punt. Jace Bowhay blocked the punt, but Drew Welsh scooped up the ball and took off, coming up just one yard short of the first down for the Bolts.
“In the second half, we’d have a couple of nice plays and then follow that up with something where we’d lose some yardage,” Aylward said. “We just couldn’t put a lot of good things together in the same drive.”
On a fourth-and-13, Coleman connected with Lucas Laflin for a 14-yard pickup and two plays later, Bruhn scored for the Orangemen.
“We wanted to just line up, come at ’em and get three or four yards a shot. We’ve proven we have the potential for the big play,” Sexton said. “But we wanted to see if we could get our offensive line on track instead of pulling and going pass-pro all the time. Just come off the ball and hit somebody.
“On the fourth-down plays, if we’re going to preach to our kids about getting off the ball and hitting people, we had to show we had enough trust in them to get 1 yard.”
Reach Ryly Jane Hambleton at 473-7314 or rhambleton@journalstar.com.
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