Chiefs optimistic despite loss to Butte Central
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RONAN — Sometimes a final score does not tell the entire story. Surely that was the case Friday evening as the Chiefs put up a good fight but fell to ninth-ranked Butte Central, 31-0.
With six players missing due to injury (including two of the team’s top runners), the Chiefs were able to hold their own against a senior-laden, disciplined Maroon squad.
“I think we really hung in there well with a really tough team,” Chiefs head coach Jim Benn said. “Butte Central is arguably the best team in the state, and we hung right there with them. We had 300 yards of offense against them and that is not bad for us at all.”
Dallas Jore led the Chiefs’ running attack with 92 yards on just seven carries while Chris Clary added 37, quarterback Robbie Gauthier had 25, Carston Baertsch had 14 and Jack Humphreys added 8 for a team total of 176.
Gauthier finished the game 8-for-15 passing for 121 yards, completing a pair of passes to each of his four receivers while being picked off just once.
Dalton Molzhon led the receiving corps with 48 yards, Cole McArthur added 37, Humphreys had 29 and Jore added 7.
The Chiefs opened the game with a good defensive stop as Molzhon picked off an Andy Ritter pass to end a Maroon drive at the Ronan 29-yard line.
The Chiefs were held to a quick three-and-out and were forced to punt the ball back to the Maroons, who then put together their first scoring drive of the evening.
Central used 11 plays to find the end zone, scoring on a middle screen from 17 yards out with 2:22 to play in the opening quarter.
Ronan’s best chance to score on the evening came on the ensuing Chiefs’ possession as an 85-yard pass from Gauthier to Molzhon highlighted a 12-play drive that stalled just 5 yards from the goal line.
“We had a nice drive that we just couldn’t quite finish. Butte is just a solid tackling team, they are hard to score on,” Benn said. “It was like we just barely missed all night long with everything we were doing. To win against great teams, you usually have to be perfect and we just are not there yet. Almost just doesn’t cut it against good teams.”
The Ronan defense made a statement later in the second quarter, knocking Central starting quarterback Ritter out of the game, but backup Jonathan Richards hardly missed a beat as the Maroons continued to add to their lead.
A 13-yard run up the middle and into the end zone by Central’s Zach Kasperick left the Chiefs down 14-0 at halftime.
Central added 10 more points with another screen-pass touchdown and field goal in the third quarter, but the Ronan offense began to find a little running room on the outside of the defense.
“You just have to find what is working for you against a certain opponent and then go with it,” Benn said. “They were shutting down the middle lanes on us, so we decided to go to the outside. It worked and we did a really well going to the outside.”
Central added one final touchdown in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 31 and the Chiefs were unable to find the end zone before time expired.
Despite the 31-point loss, Benn said he was proud of his team’s effort and the way they are responding to having to deal with injuries this early in the season.
“We are just trying to find the right combination in the backfield right now. We are having to move a lot of players around with all of the injuries that we are having to deal with right now,” he said. “We really should have great depth by the time conference play rolls around. We just need to get these kids comfortable with what we are doing. We could really be scary if we work on our passing game and get it to balance with our strong running game.”
With many players looking to return from injury soon and many younger players having gained valuable experience over the past few weeks, Benn is optimistic about his team’s future and is proud of what they have done so far.
“This has been a really strange start to this season. I have never had to go through a start quite like this, one with all of the injuries that we have had to deal with,” Benn said. “I’ve never had to use freshmen as backups like I have been forced to do this year. But I have no complaints about our effort this week. We fought hard and didn’t give up.”
The Chiefs will be at home this week as they host Corvallis.
Summary
Butte Central 31, Ronan 0
Butte Central 7 7 10 7–31
Ronan 0 0 0 0–0
BC - Jonathan Richards 17 pass from Andy Ritter (Nathaniel Loomis kick)
BC- Zach Kasperick 13 run (Loomis kick)
BC - Phil Antonioli 14 pass from J. Richards (Loomis kick)
BC - Loomis 37 kick
BC - A.J. Acuna 15 run (Loomis kick)
