Bismarck reaches quarters with upset
BISMARCK 35, CHARLESTON 27
CHARLESTON — The Bismarck Lions made the biggest win in school history a dramatic one.
Bismarck scored 28 unanswered points over the final 19 minutes to rally to a 35-27 win over defending Class 3A state champion Charleston at Alumni Field on Friday night in the second round of the playoffs.
Bismarck (10-3) matched a school-record with 10 wins for the first time since 1994 and will travel to Prescott, a 7-6 winner over Fordyce on Friday, in the quarterfinals.
“This is the first time Bismarck has ever been past the second round,” Bismarck Coach D.J. Keithley said. “We’ve gotten to the second, but we’ve never gotten past it. I’m so stinking proud of them. It’s such a big deal especially at their place. Charleston is so good.”
Bismarck junior quarterback Ben Keithley completed 16 of 30 passes for 323 yards and 4 touchdowns, and carried 16 times for 132 yards and a touchdown.
Charleston (7-5) led 14-7 at the half on touchdown passes by Eli Huck to Deegan Todd of 49 yards and Emiliano Gaono of 7 yards.
The Tigers added two quick scored to open the second half on touchdown runs of 57 and 15 yards by Reese Merechka, who finished with 20 carries for 217 yards in his career finale, for a 27-7 lead with 6:57 left in the third quarter.
Ben Keithley threw a 66-yard touchdown pass to Caedmon Keithley on the first play after the kickoff to trim Bismarck’s deficit to 2714 with 6:36 remaining in the third quarter.
“Just the fact that our boys decided that they weren’t going to let down, they weren’t going to tuck tail and just let it happen to them. They fought back,” D.J. Keithley said. “I’m so stinking proud of these guys.
“At halftime, they were quiet and a little shook and a little bit nervous. We knew we could come out here and score points. It was just a matter of doing what we do, and the defense has to get a few holds and a couple of turnovers to help us out. That’s what happened.”
After a combined four scoreless possessions, Bismarck recovered a fumble on the first play from scrimmage in the fourth quarter.
Five plays later, Ben Keithley scored on a 2-yard run with 9:58 left in the game that pulled Bismarck within 27-21.
Bismarck’s Kolton Dunlap recovered an onside kick, and two plays later Ben Keithley hit Dalton Daniels on a 41yard touchdown pass with 9:19 left. Wilver Ramirez booted the fourth of his five PATs for a 28-27 lead.
“That’s a play we call ‘Bobby Boucher, the Waterboy,’ where we try to find somebody in the middle and try to smoke them as hard as we can in the chest with that ball,” D.J. Keithley said. “Sure enough, it went off one of Charleston’s foot, and we were able to get the ball back and go down and score.”
On Charleston’s next play from scrimmage, Malachi Stephenson recovered a fumble with 9:10 left and Bismarck took eight plays to drive 34 yards with Ben Keithley throwing a 16-yard touchdown pass to Johnny Diaz for a 35-27 cushion with 5:03 left.
“Somewhere in the middle of it we were able to get it going,” D.J. Keithley said. “The momentum shifted and you could feel it rolling our way.”
Charleston used up just about the remainder of the clock in driving to Bismarck’s 5 but was stuffed on third and fourth downs, the last one with 37 seconds left.
“You know whoever gets that stop down there is going to win the ballgame,” D.J. Keithley said. “Our guys bowing up. We knew they had some athletes, and we showed out and stepped up and got the job done.”
Bismarck took a 7-0 lead on Ben Keithley’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Preston Hughes before Charleston scored twice for the lead at the half.
“We played their butts off and we played our butts off,” Charleston Coach Ricky May said. “We didn’t get the breaks and sometimes that happens. They’ve got a good bunch. We gave everything we had, we just didn’t have enough.”