Bethany wins rematch of last year's state final
TUTTLE — Sam Brandt and Ben Lawson were all over the field Friday night.
The seniors made his presence known on offense and defense for No. 2 Bethany, helping the Broncos defeat No. 1 Tuttle 21-0 in a rematch of last year's Class 4A state title game.
Brandt and Lawson are the kind of guys who rise up in big situations coach Jon Arthur said.
“Those two guys are certainly great leaders for us, and they've done a great job for two or three years for us,” Arthur said.
Beth any found itself on fourth-and-9 23 yards from the goal line when Brandt dropped back to pass. Brandt found Lawson all alone on the left side of the field for a touchdown pass to put Bethany up 14-0.
On the first play of Tuttle's following drive, Lawson picked off Tuttle quarterback Cole Battles to give Bethany the ball back. It was the first of two picks Battles threw in the game. Lawson had another catch on fourth down in the third quarter to set up a 1-yard touchdown for Brandt.
Brandt was the driving force behind Bethany' s offense, throwing for 139 yards and running for a team-high 69 yards. He also had an interception on defense.
Bethany's only losses last season came to Tuttle, losing to
the Tigers in the regular season and state championship. A rivalry game, the stands were packed for both teams.
“It was just kind of a situation where we played extremely well on the offensive side as far as being able to run the ball and control the clock,” Arthur said. “And that's key against a team like Tuttle that's so good on offense, we were able to keep that offense off the field a lot of time.”
Tuttle struggled to get anything going in the first half. The Broncos held the Tigers to just 79 yards of total offense in the game. The loss snaps Tuttle' s 1 4- game winning streak.
Bethany had a strong perf ormance on both s i des of the ball, but the Broncos still accumulated over 100 yards in penalties. It's something that' s been an issue for Bethany all season.
“You've gotta keep cleaning,” Arthur said.