Braves out-muscle, out-hustle Mavericks
By Jerry W. Kram
The Parshall Braves took full advantage of several players returning after missing games because of ineligibility and injury to post a convincing 28-6 homecoming victory over the Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood Mavericks.
One of those players was Monte Goodbird, whose opening kickoff pinned the Mavericks at the two yard line, which set the tone for much of first quarter. The Braves defense stifled the Mavericks running attack in the shadow of the own goal post, giving the Braves good field position on their first couple of drives. However, the Mavericks exhibited some defensive prowess of their own and kept the Braves out of the end zone as the first quarter ended with no score.
"Our defense is probably what saved us," said Head Coach Mark Grueneich. "Our offense struggled early and our defense got the ball back for us. The Mavericks are a good team. They gave us fits from time to time. A good offense will do that. But our defense came up with a couple of fumbles and that made a huge difference in the game."
Ironically, the Braves first score of the game came the first time the team got the ball on their own half of the field. Jade Moran took a short pass from Dean Foote and outran the defense for a 61 yard touchdown reception. Foote ran in the two point conversion to make the score at halftime 8-0. Myles Odermann helped on defense in the second quarter by snuffing out a Mavericks drive with a goal line interception.
