Loggers bow to Broncs, 28-11; end their season with 5-5 mark

The Hamilton Broncs ended Libby’s

football season Saturday at Loggers Stadium, handing the Loggers a

28-11 defeat in a game they trailed throughout.

Libby ends the season with a winning

record of 5-5. Hamilton looks toward the Polson Pirates in its next

round of the playoffs with an identical record.

“We play a pretty tough non-conference

schedule,” said Broncs coach Travis Bloom. “We feel like we were

able to execute today, and we stuck to our game plan. (Sophomore

quarterback Josh) Bauder was able to complete some passes, and that

helped. He’s having a great season.”

For the Loggers, the game started

ominously as the Broncs Tyler Murray took their opening kickoff for

a 39-yard return to midfield. Bauder promptly found Murray again

for a 36-yard pass play in double coverage to the Loggers 11-yard

line. Then the Bauder-to-Murray combination teamed for a TD strike

just four plays into the game that put the Broncs ahead just 1:51

into the game. Senior placekicker Seth Mason made the PAT attempt

to put the Broncs ahead, 7-0 and they never looked back.

“We had trouble getting our quarterback

away from under center,” Loggers coach Neil Fuller said after the

game. “We had difficulty getting our passing game to connect. We

just weren’t real sharp. We just weren’t good enough

offensively.”

Fuller said despite sparks of

brilliance this season, the offense just never gelled.

“We’re hampered by a lack of depth,”

Fuller said. “All season there was a lack of cohesiveness. Sure, we

had a few people who didn’t come out but who knows for whatever

reason. Football is a violent sport. … Overall, I’d say our

Achilles Heel this season has been our lack of offensive

balance.”

The Loggers struggled offensively

almost from their first kickoff return. In their first series from

scrimmage, the Loggers managed to achieve a first down, when on a

third-and-seven from their own 32-yard line, senior quarterback

Micah Germany scampered eight yards, but the series died on a

third-and-three from their own 47 after a pass intended for senior

wide receiver Christian Hubbard fell incomplete.

Wasting little time, the Broncs made it

14-0 on a series that began with the Logger punt at the Broncs’ own

30-yard line.

Bauder engineered a nine-play drive

that culminated with a Mathew Turley 10-yard run that made the

score 14-0 after Mason’s PAT.

The Loggers’ next three series were

four-and-outs, but their next series — their fifth of the first

half — the Loggers put together a 17-play drive as they worked

their way down to the Broncs’ 22-yard line before the impressive

drive stalled.

The Loggers mixed in some passes to

senior running back Chase Hoyer, wide receivers Nolen Broden, Lane

Luscher and Hubbard, and runs by quarterback Jared Winslow to

advance the football.

However, the drive stalled after

managing to achieve five first-downs, ending at the 22-yard

line.

After an incomplete pass to Broden, a

Winslow QB scramble and an overthrown pass to Luscher, the drive

stalled. Junior placekicker Patrick Valentine stepped in and kicked

a 40-yard field goal to put the Loggers on the board, 14-3, with

just 57 seconds remaining in the first half.

Valentine, who Fuller previously called

a Division I kicker, had plenty of leg on the attempt, which would

have hit from at least 45-yards.

Hamilton made it 21-0 on its first

possession of the second half, after the Loggers turned the ball

over when Murray intercepted a Winslow pass and returned it to

their own 40-yard line.

Bauder then managed a seven-play and

two first-down drive that was capped by a TD pass to Zander Smith.

The strike was set up after Bauder delayed to give the Broncs a

21-3 lead as Mason tacked on the PAT. The score came with 6:46

remaining in the third quarter.

The Broncs managed their final tally on

their first possession of the fourth quarter. In a 12-play drive

that began at their own 25-yard line, the Broncs put together an

impressive drive that included Bauder keepers, runs by senior

running back Mike Bienusa and pass plays that culminated with a

second-and-goal from the one-yard line. Bienusa, as he had for much

of the drive, carried the ball in for his team’s fourth score,

28-3, after the Mason PAT with 4:36 left.

The never-say-die Loggers came right

back on the ensuing kickoff as Hubbard took the kickoff, split

defenders and scampered down the left sideline before the Broncs’

Jesse Mason and Kris Cleveland were able to pull him down at the

10-yard line.

With a first-and-10 at the 10, Germany

moved back into the signal-caller position and advanced the ball

just short of the goal when — after an incomplete pass to Broden —

the Loggers gave the ball to 6-foot, 2-inch, 230-pounder Nic

Robertson who powered the ball into the end zone for the Loggers’

sole TD. A two-point conversion executed by Germany was good,

rounding out the scoring 28-11.

The game marked the reunion of two

coaches — Kyle Hannah, the Loggers offensive coordinator, and

Bloom, the Broncs head coach — who were teammates at the University

of Montana Western. Hannah was a wide receiver at Western and Bloom

was their quarterback in 2004 when they were co-champions of their

conference.

“Kyle was a fun guy, a good guy who

always smiled and made people laugh,” Bloom said.

Said Hannah at halftime: “This would be

more fun (now), if he wasn’t kicking my butt so much.”

Bloom and the Broncs will have their

hands full this week as they meet the Polson Pirates in their next

round.