Broncos freeze Brewster’s state title attempt

Hosting a state first-round game on Friday night, the Broncos were able to fend off the Brewster Bears 27-8 in a frigid competition.

“It was still another strong performance, not a shut–out but you’re not going to shut teams out at this level,” head coach Greg Whitmore said.

After kicking off to the Bears and stopping the opening offensive drive, the Broncos would take over possession. The Broncos were able to advance the ball all night, using their running game to smash out yardage against the Bears and passing to throw off their opponent’s tempo.

Jacob Saetre would complete the Broncos first offensive drive of the night, connecting with Cort Ruzicka for a 36-yard touchdown.

Brewster would not go easily, however, and would return the Bronco kick-off 87 yards to even the score moments later.

In the second quarter Ruzicka would find a gap in the Brewster line and drive the ball 11-yards to capture the lead once more.

With a little under a minute left in the half Ruzicka would rotate to quarterback and connect with Saetre to bring the Broncos within striking distance of the goal line. He would connect with Saetre again for a 20-yard touchdown reception.

With freshman Bryce Esser securing the two-point conversion pass from Saetre, the Broncos would lead the Bears 20-6 at halftime.

In the third quarter Ruzicka would connect with Matt Leffel and extend the Bronco lead to 27-6. Brewster would strike back with three minutes remaining in the quarter but would be unable to convert on the two-point attempt.

The fourth quarter would see both teams battling for field position, with neither able to make a significant scoring drive until the Bears scored with one minute left in the game.

The Broncos dominated the time of possession, holding onto the ball for 32 minutes during the contest.

They also were able to claw out 219 yards rushing and 139 yards passing against the Brewster defense. The Bronco defense allowed the Bears just 13 yards rushing and 222 yards passing.

“Some of those

were long runs, a catch and a long run by them but we out gained them.” Whitmore said, “Offensively we played really well and came alive.”

Though the defense did not record any sacks against the Bears, the Bronco defensive line would force the Bear’s quarterback to scramble or throw early.

“Putting pressure on the quarterback was key. That front line did a good job pressuring him and making him a little bit jumpy…” Whitmore said, “I’d have to give the nod to the defensive line.”

The Bears would complete just 17 out of 52 passes during the game. The Broncos would also force two fumbles from the Brewster offense.

Ruzicka would again lead the Broncos offensive statistics, playing every offensive position except the offensive line.

“Number one he’s a senior,” Whitmore said. “He has the most experience in big games and in playoff games. He’s been a big part of it the last few years so that’s what we’d expect in a game like that and he’s done it the last two weeks.”

He said that the entire Bronco offense played very well, with Saetre also coming up big for the Broncos offense as well as Matt Vercoe , Skylar Oestrich and Ryan Frederick having great games on the offensive line.

The Broncos will take on Waitsburg-Prescott in Pasco this Friday for their quarterfinal game. The last time the Broncos lost a game it was to the Cardinals back in 2011 on the same field they will be playing on Friday night.

Whitmore said the Bronco defense will have to shut down the Cardinal passing attempts and prevent the big play offense they bring to the field.

“They’ve got a tall young quarterback that throws the ball pretty well, they’ve got good athleticism, [their] size is ok, we can match up. It’ll be a pretty good match up I think,” He said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

The Broncos will bring their multi-threat offense at full strength on Friday with Hugh Henning returning at running back. Hennings did not play during the Brewster game because of a mild concussion.

“I think they will look at film and say ‘geez how do we prepare for this we gotta pay attention when 82 is at quaterback...’” Whitmore said, “So it’ll be interesting to see what they do I think it makes us tougher to defend actually.”

Coach Whitmore said the team will also need to focus on minimizing penalties. The Broncos would have eight penalties for 90 yards during their game against Brewster. Three of them would be pass interference calls for a total of 45 yards.

“If a kid throws it 52 times that means you’re covering someone 52 times and there’s bound to be some contact,” Whitmore said.

Kick-off for the quarterfinal game is at 7 p.m. at Edgar Brown Memorial Stadium in Pasco. The winner will advance to the semi-finals and play the winner of the Davenport/Okanogan game, which is being played in Moses Lake on Friday.