Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Sports at a Glance

All stories by Jean Schurman

Blaze too much for Phoenix

The Bitterroot Blaze claimed their first conference championship Saturday afternoon in a come-from-behind 20-10 victory over their arch rivals, the Missoula Phoenix. This was the first time the Blaze had trailed in any game this year. Both teams are members of the Rocky Mountain Football League, northern division.

The game, played in Washington Grizzly Stadium, was hard hitting and hot with temperatures hovering around the 90 plus mark on the thermometer. More than 2,000 spectators wished for the Hellgate winds that tear down Hellgate Canyon in the fall, lowering the temperatures in the stadium. That was not to be but the Blaze proved to be right at home in the heat.

Jamie Jones of the Blaze knocked down a Phoenix punt and then rumbled 26 yards for the first touchdown of the game with a little more than three minutes remaining in the first quarter. The point after attempt was not good but the Blaze had the lead. Jones finished the game with four and a half tackles, a sack and the blocked punt touchdown.

The Missoula team, who lost to the Blaze, 6-0, in early May, were determined to put points on the board and come away with a win. They were hitting hard and attacking the ball and that tenacity paid off when a hard hit and a missed hand off created a Blaze fumble on their own 18-yard line. The Phoenix capitalized on that turnover when quarterback Shane Jursek ran a quarterback sneak play for a 16-yard touchdown. The PAT kick by Mark Spencer gave the Missoula team the lead and the undefeated Blaze trailed for the first time this season.

The two teams continued to duke it out on the field battling every play for position. Another Blaze fumble set up the final scoring opportunity for the Phoenix in the first half and the game. With only a few ticks left on the clock, Spencer set up for a field goal. A false start by his team moved the ball back five yards, setting up a 45 yard field goal. As the time ticked off the clock, the ball soared through the air between the goal posts and cleared the crossbar of the goal post by maybe six inches.

Quarterback Bucky Brawley of the Blaze summed it up. "I had a few mental mistakes in the first half and kind of gave them their momentum. But when I played well in the second half, we did well."

The Blaze had their work cut out for them. Not only trailing for the first time all season, they were now trailing by two possessions going into the half.

"It was scary," said Justin Nixon, running back for the Blaze. "They were stopping us on offense and then they scored. It was hard to tell what was going to happen."

Player/coach Joe Murawa of the Blaze admitted he had imagined the scenario of trailing the Phoenix.

"We went in at the half and made a couple of changes on the 'O' line," said Murawa. "And we went to more ball control."

The Blaze went to Nixon time and time again. Each time his second effort, along with the offensive line, knocked the Phoenix back. It was Nixon who took the ball across the goal line at the 1:49 minute mark in the third quarter for the three yard touchdown run. The PAT by Erik Peterson was good and the Blaze were back.

Nixon finished the game with 101 yards on 20 carries. Tyler Jolley had 33 yards on five carries and Patrick Evers had 26 yards on five carries.

It was Grant Roman who was Brawley's target in the fourth quarter. Brawley hit Roman with a three yard pass for the final touchdown of the game. Then, the Blaze settled down and played tough defense and ball control offense.

With under seven minutes remaining, Bitterroot recovered a Missoula fumble and although they couldn't convert it to points, the possession time was crucial. Missoula took over on downs but, at 4:46 left in the game, an interception by the Blaze sealed the game.

"To beat the two time defending champs in their own stadium," said Murawa. "It's huge."

Brawley added, "Undefeated, undisputed, kings."

The Blaze will play their first playoff game on June 23 in Darby.