Warrior offense grinds to a halt in loss to Drummond
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DRUMMOND — The Warriors were dominated at the line of scrimmage by the Trojans and fell to the defending state champions 26-6 in Drummond Friday.
The night couldn’t have started off worse for the Warriors with offensive lineman Brady Potts going down on the first play from scrimmage. The Warriors never could recover from the injury and the offensive line that was so dominate in the fourth quarter of Arlee’s season-opening 46-20 victory in Philipsburg, never could gain any traction against the Trojan frontline.
“Brady’s a nice anchor to the line, so it’s tough for him to go down so early,” Arlee coach Scott Palmer said.
The Warriors had trouble moving the ball against the Trojan and didn’t get a first down until 8:56 in the third quarter at Drummond’s 35-yard line on their only scoring drive of the game. The Warriors got two more first downs on the drive. Zach Tameler broke free for 15 yards to take it down to the 22 on Arlee’s longest play of the game. With the ball at the 13, Arlee quarterback Dylan Moran took it down to the 1 to give them a first-and-goal. Cole Rice punched it in from there to make it 20-6 with 6:48 left to play in the third.
The Warriors also had trouble holding on to the ball and coughed it up six times against the Trojans. None of the turnovers were more costly than the one at their 10 yard-line in the final minutes of the first half. After turning the Trojans away on a goal-line stand to keep it a 14-0 game, the Warriors fumbled on a option to give the Trojans a first-and-goal inside the 10, where on a fourth-and-goal they scored on a 15-yard screen pass from brothers Mac Bignell to Nate Bignell.
“We just couldn’t hold onto the ball today. We had six fumbles all together and that will definitely take you out of the game,” Palmer said.
Despite not being able to move the ball and turning the ball over, the Warrior defense kept them in the game. The Trojans had a hard time moving the ball against them and relied on big plays for their scoring. Trojan running back Darius Pool was a Warrior killer. Pool started the scoring with a 58-yard run less than three minutes into the game. He also scored on a 53-yard pass to make it 12-0 in the second quarter.
“The plays we gave up were big plays and big plays are easy to fix. You can fix big plays it’s the sustaining drives that are hard to fix,” Palmer said.
“I’m really proud of them. They stayed together as a group. We got a lot of room to grow, but I see us being able to make that growth,” Palmer said.
They will have to grow up in a hurry. Things won’t get any easier for them this Friday, when they host the Vikings, who have outscored their opponents 118-6 in the first two games.
Summary
Drummond 26, Arlee 6
Arlee 0 0 6 0–6
Drummond6 14 6 0–26
D - Darius Pool 58 run (kick failed)
D - Pool 53 pass from Mac Bignell (kick failed)
D - Nate Bignell 15 pass from Mac Bignell (Nate Bignell pass from Mac Bignell)
A - Cole Rice 3 run (run failed)
D - Mac Bignell 3 run (pass failed)
