DOUBLE OVERTIME
Berthoud beats Brush 22-21, moves to 2-0 record overall
BERTHOUD — The days leading into Ber thoud’s home football opener cer tainly could have created concern on the Spartans sideline.
While Brush traveled to BHS’ recently renovated turf fresh off a convincing victory, coach Cory Ticnor’s squad arrived Tuesday afternoon following a competition-less, Covid-19-induced quarantine.
Nevertheless, despite being forced to isolate for two weeks before squeezing in only three practices, Ticnor possessed no doubts regarding the Spartans’ ability to perform at an energized level inside Max Marr Stadium on senior night. And though BHS displayed rust at times, its evident determination and unwavering grittiness carried the battle-tested group to a thrilling 22-21 victor y over the Beetdiggers in double over time.
“The adversity this group faced over the last 14 days is indescribable,” Ticnor said. “For them to come out in this weather and do what we just did, I can’t even tell you how proud I am. They deser ve all the credit in
the world. They just don’t quit. I am so impressed with their desire to get this win. It speaks to the culture we’re trying to create, the never-give-up attitude. They really dug deep, and it speaks volumes for where this program is at.”
Considering the contest required two extra periods to produce a victor, the Tuesday evening affair obviously contained a fair share of drama. However, describing the Spartans’ second game of the abbreviated campaign as dramatic would do the outing no justice.
Knotted up at 14 points apiece, Brush instantaneously pinned the hosts on the ropes when intercepting sophomore quarterback Tristan Youngblood’s first over time pass attempt. As a result, the Beetdiggers only needed a short field goal to escape Ber thoud with a win while commencing their offensive possession at BHS’ 10-yard line.
Not so fast. Four plays into the drive, Berthoud swatted away an extra-point length field-goal attempt from the 3 upon sending the contest to another set of overtime posessions.
“It’s just that will,” twoway senior Austin Burdette said. “That’s the mindset we have at Berthoud. We took ever ything we had last year and turned it into greatness this year.”
Brush responded by pushing across a touchdown to begin the next overtime. But the Spartans simply never gave in as Ticnor’s of fense answered with a 5-yard score in which senior Cooper Hidalgo climbed the ladder to snag the ball over a hovering defender.
And as BHS willingly opted towards all game long, it rolled the dice thereafter –– leaving the offense on the field for a two-point conversion. As the final score entails, the Spartans hit the jackpot in doing so as Burdette drove a handoff through the line of scrimmage for a walk-of f, celebration-ensuring score.
Given the adversity the Spartans battled to reach the 2-0 mark, the emphatic statement made by assembling the Tuesday-night triumph goes without saying.
“Tonight shows that we’re going to be a team to reckoned with this year,” Burdette said. “We’re definitely going to be a hard-fighting team. It’s going to be hard to put us down. We fired back once they hit us early tonight, and we said they aren’t allowed to come into our home and do that. We’ll respond like that if we need to all season.”
Overall, though Youngblood guided a clutch of fensive showing via hurling a pair of touchdowns, thorough defensive dominance helped BHS prevail above all.
After falling behind 14-8 late in the first frame, Ticnor’s defense kept the Spar tans afloat amid an of fensive drought.
Notably, BHS constructed a crucial fourth-down stand as Brush threatened in Spartans territory early in the second quarter. Then, junior Easton Crompton hauled in an interception on the Beetdiggers’ following possession before Ticnor’s defense authoritatively capped the next two drives with a Burdette fumble recovery and a Shawn Phipps interception.
Once the second-quarter takeaway barrage concluded, the Spartans’ defense continued rising to the occasion during the final frame of regulation upon tallying four sacks in a 14-14 tie.
“We were fired up on defense tonight,” Burdette said. “Ever ybody was working together. We really just kept clicking. Whenever a good play happened, we made sure we were right there with our buddy letting them know that we were fired up. We just had so much energy that they couldn’t stop us tonight.”
Up next, BHS takes its unscathed record to Severance (2-1) for its second contest of the week on Saturday at noon. And if Tuesday’s result reveals anything, it’s that the Spartans surely won’t complain about facing the Silver Knights on short rest.