Scotties Knocked Out

A season of adversity and Scottie perserverance came to an end for the Glasgow football team on Saturday as they lost to the Baker Spartans 16-13, in a game that mirrored their up and down season, in front of nearly 800 in attendance.

The Scotties came into the game having just lost their starting quarterback and team leader Lane Herbert to a non-football related injury the day before.

“You really struggle when you’re missing your leader,” said Head Coach Greg Liebelt.

But the Scotties fought back, as they have all season, even after falling behind by 16 points early.

“It was a tale of two halves,” said Liebelt.

The Spartans entered halftime with a 16-0 lead over the Scotties, who really struggled to move the ball in the first half. However, it was really the first two drives for Baker that made the difference.

Baker ran the ball very well to open the game and scored on their first two possessions with drives of 64 and 58 yards. Baker didn’t even attempt a pass in either drive.

“[Baker] just blocked very well,” said Liebelt. “They were opening holes up, getting through the line and finding seams.”

After a missed extra point and a successful two-point conversion, the Spartans led 14-0. The Scotties weren’t able to answer offensively as they failed to convert a first down the entire first half. And the Spartans extended their lead to 16 by forcing a safety in the second.

The Scotties did answer in the second half, though. And no one who has watched this team expected anything less.

“The kids fought back. They showed a ton of heart,” said Liebelt.

The Scottie defense really buckled down and held the Spartans to 29 total yards in the second half after allowing 186 yards in the first half.

Though, the offense still struggled against a physical Baker defense.

But just before the third quarter ended, the offense used some trickery to get going. Chase Fossum pitched the ball to running back Johnathon Koessl, the same look as the Scotties’ sweep play, but this time, Koessl looked to pass and found Greg Fewer for a 17-yard gain. The trick play resulted in the first first down of the game for the Scotties.

The play gave the Scotties some momentum as they turned the gain into points on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Fossum to Keil Krumwiede. The Scotties went for two to try to cut the deficit to just eight but the pass fell incomplete to keep the score at 16-6.

After forcing a Baker three-and-out, the Scotties were threatening to score again as they got down to the Baker 5-yard line before a fumble gave possession to Baker.

But the defense stymied the Baker offense again – the Scotties got the ball at the Baker 25-yard line with 2:30 to go in the game.

They had to score quickly to give themselves a chance.

That’s when Liebelt dialed up another trick play – a play call he deemed “chaos.”

The offense came to the line before Fossum stepped away from the center and started gesturing to his right to distract the Baker defense. But the Scotties snapped the ball directly to Koessl who took a couple steps to his left and hit a diving Fewer in the back of the end zone for the unlikely touchdown.

The extra point made it 16-13 with 2:25 to go.

The Scotties kicked off to Baker and held them to a three-and-out. But Baker’s punter came up with perhaps the game-sealing play by kicking from his own 35 and pinning the Scotties down at their own 13 with only 1:17 to play.

The Scotties would have to come up with another miracle to pull out the unbelievable comeback.

And they almost did. After a miscommunication on the first play, the Scotties called a time out and called a “hook-and-lateral” play that asked Fossum to hit Fewer on a comeback route and Fewer would then pitch the ball to Bryan Larson, who would be running full speed a few yards behind Fewer to try to catch the defense off-guard.

It almost worked. The Baker defenders were closing in on Fewer and Larson may have gained a chunk of yards on the play to give the Scotties a chance. However, Fewer’s knee was touching the ground when he caught the ball and was therefore ruled down.

The Scotties weren’t able to rebound – they turned the ball over on downs and the Spartans claimed victory.

It was a tough ending to an outstanding season for the Scotties. The team faced adversity all season long, which culminated in Herbert’s injury, but were able to overcome. They finish with a 7-3 record on the season after back-to-back 2-6 seasons.

They qualified for the playoffs for the first time in three years and even knocked off defending state champion Fairfield in the opening round of the playoffs.

“It was an incredible season,” said Liebelt. “It was remarkable to see how far we came as a team.”

The Scotties lose nine seniors off this year’s team – Bryan Larson, Boyd Sinclair, Greg Fewer, Griffin Bengochea, Andy Gardner, Robbie Henville, Dillon Koski, Travis Austin and Nate Sharrett all competed in their last Scottie football game. And all were major contributors for the Scotties.

“They’re going to be missed greatly,” said Liebelt. “They just worked so hard and always gave it their best. It will be really hard to replace those kids next year.”

Baker will travel to Missoula to take on Loyola in the state semi finals.