Brophy 35
Westview 21

By P. Erik Meyer ’14
THE ROUNDUP

Zach Kotoske ’13 intercepted a Westview pass in the fourth quarter Friday, Oct. 5 to stop a potentially game tying drive and shift moment back to Brophy’s advantage.

The Broncos entered Friday night ranked No. 6 in the state with a 5-2 record. They trotted off the field at 10:10 pm with a 6-2 record and a 35-21victory over the No.19 team in the state.

“Westview is a great football program, they will play anyone, anywhere, anytime,” said head coach Mr. Scooter Molander. “They played a good game tonight and we did as well.”

Brophy started the game with an 80-yard touchdown drive that lasted 54 seconds thanks to a 25-yard run by Devon Allen ’13 and a 40 yard touchdown run by Marche Dennard ’13.

Allen had one other run for -1 yard in the game and finished with 24 rushing yards.

Westview responded with a quick score on a 37-yard touchdown pass.

Tyler Bruggman ’13 completed three of four passes on the next drive for 36 yards but a sack compounded with two penalties for 14 yards forced the Broncos to punt.

Brophy had six penalties for 49 yards in the game.

After Matt Auran’s ’13 punt to the Westview 18, the Knights drove all the way to the Brophy 29 yard line before Robert Relf ’13 intercepted a pass. Relf finished the game with five tackles and the interception.

Westview failed to take advantage of the good field position after a turn over on downs and went three and out thanks to a sack and tackle on third down from Kaleb Mosier ’13.

Brophy scored on the next drive on a 14-yard touchdown run by Clarence Clark ’13, which was preceded by a 46-yard reception by Matt Klein ’13.

On top of that touchdown run Clark had two catches for 73 yards and another touchdown.

After Westview blocked the point after attempt, Brophy had a 13-7 lead with 9:45 left in the first half.

Clark’s kickoff left Westview at their own 15 yard line and two penalties forced them into a first and 20 from their own six. Westview went three and out and punted to Allen who returned the punt to the Westview 4 yard line.

Dennard rushed for his second touchdown of the game on the following play. He finished with 110 total yards and three total touchdowns.

“He’s a tremendous running back, we knew that last year when he got banged up a little bit but he’s a great young man and we are very fortunate to have him,” Mr. Molander said about Dennard.

Westview put together a prolonged 6:02 minute touchdown drive following Dennard’s second touchdown to narrow Brophy’s lead to 20-14.

The Broncos responded with a three play touchdown drive thanks to a 59 yard touchdown pass from Bruggman to Clark. Westview let the clock run out and headed into the half down 27-14.

The Knights took the second-half kickoff from the 20 and marched down the field on a touchdown drive that ate up almost the entire third quarter. Brophy’s lead was down to six.

On their next drive they were eventually forced to punt despite converting a fourth down earlier in the drive. Auran’s punt was downed at the 10 with 9:05 left in the fourth quarter.

Westview marched to the 43 yard line thanks to a roughing the passer call on fourth and seven from Westview’s own 47.

On second and nine Kotoske intercepted a Westview pass.

“They had been setting that play up all game with run, run, run and setting it up on the wing, Kotoske said. “I told Ryan Castellani ’13 before that play to watch the play action pass and that’s exactly what they did. I was a little slow out of my break but it worked out.”

Kotoske returned the interception to the 26 yard line before being tackled.

“We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times there, I’m proud of our guys we kept battling, we thought we had them stopped, there was a call made and we could have really lost focus, lost intensity and then Zach Kotoske makes a tremendous play,” Mr. Molander said.

The Broncos would score off the interception on a nine yard screen pass to Dennard and then converted the two point conversion to go up by two touchdowns.

Westview kept battling and returned the ensuing kickoff to the Brophy 26 yard line. On the following play Joe Nauert ’14 forced a fumble and Mosier recovered it.

A few running plays later and the game clock ran out with score board reading Brophy 35 Westview 21.

“We believe in ourselves, we know that to win against good football teams that you must stay in the moment and our guys did a good job of that,” Mr. Molander said. “Nobody panicked and we kept battling.”

Notes:

• Both of Auran’s two punts were downed inside the 20 yard line. Besides the kickoff return to the Brophy 26, Westview did not start a drive beyond the Bronco 35 yard line.
• D’Amani Grayer ’13 played solid defense throughout the game with five tackles and two broken up passes. Taylor Martinez ’13 led the Bronco defense with eight tackles.
• Brophy had no turnovers whereas the defense forced Westview into three turnovers.
• The blocked extra point on Brophy’s second touchdown was Phillip Mourikes’ ’14 first missed extra point all season.

More photos from the game: