The Britton-Hecla football team saw its season come to an end in the first round of the Class 9AA playoffs in Britton on Thursday.
The eighth-seeded Braves fell to ninth-seeded Kimball-White Lake 14-7 in a hard-fought battle. B-H ended its season with a 6-3 record, while Kimball-White Lake, now 6-3, will travel to Freeman to take on top-seeded Freeman-Marion-Freeman Academy, a 59-7 first-round winner over Garretson, on Thursday.
Big pass plays by the WiLdKats proved to be the difference against the Braves. Britton-Hecla dominated the trenches with a 203-87 yard advantage running the football and both teams completed six passes. But Kimball-White Lake’s six completions went for 153 yards while B-H threw for just 34.
“I think last week was the definition of “wrong place, wrong time,” said B-H coach Jacob Skogstad. “I felt like we did everything that we wanted to do in that football game except limit penalties, and limit big plays. They did a nice job of just playing a solid game. They didn’t really do anything we didn’t expect, and they ended up making one more play than us.”
Despite the loss, Skogstad felt his club took some steps forward for the B-H football program.
“We are going to miss this group of seniors, they have really set the tone for what we expect our program to be. But, we have a good group of young guys that we are excited about moving forward. I feel like we came together as a group, and took another little step forward this year. We are excited to take another next year!”
The Braves got off on the right foot and drew first blood, driving 69 yards in 10 plays on the game’s first possession, capped by a Bryce Hawkinson run on a third and goal from the seven. Lofton Heer booted the extra point and B-H led 7-0 with only 4:28 gone in the contest.
The teams traded punts before the visitors took over on their own 46 and thanks to a 35-yard pass play on a third and 11 drove 54 yards on eight plays. But Hawkinson came up with a tackle on the conversion play and the Braves still led 7-6 with 10:24 left in the half.
Kimball-White Lake forced a B-H punt on its next possession and on first down turned a screen pass into a 44-yard gain to the Braves 22. Twice K-WL converted a third down and scored with 3:45 left in the half and added the conversion run for a 14-7 advantage.
The Braves responded with a 43-yard touchdown run from Hawkinson but the play was called back on a holding penalty. Skogstad’s crew was able to drive to the K-WL 25 but turned the ball over on downs with 14 seconds left in the half.
B-H forced a punt on Kimball-White Lake’s opening possession of the second half and put together a 49-yard drive on 10 plays but stalled on the WiLdKats 35. K-WL scored on its next possession but the TD was called back on an offensive pass interference penalty, forcing a punt.
After a B-H three-and-out, K-WL had a first and 10 from the Braves 28 after a roughing the passer penalty with just over six minutes remaining. But the local gridders had new life after Graham Fosness pounced on a fumble.
Britton-Hecla picked up a pair of first downs but failed to convert a fourth and six, giving the visitors the ball back on their own 44. The WiLdKats were able to run the clock down to 43 seconds before turning the ball over on downs, and the Braves had a pass intercepted on first down to end the game.
Hawkinson moved into the second spot on the all-time rushing list for the school with 152 yards on 27 carries. That effort boosted his season mark to 1,223 yards and his career total to 3,512 to surpass Collin Docter for the second spot behind Stanley Haskins.
Hawkinson also led the defensive effort with 10.5 tackles. Jade Tisher had nine stops, Jaxon Zuehlke 7.5, and Graham Fosness six.
FOR FULL STATS SEE THIS WEEK'S JOURNAL
