BJM outlasts Carlton to advance to 5A football provincial final

Four-year Crusader and Carlton senior Tucker Prodaehl echoed his head coach.

“We played our hearts out, everybody did. We had a great game,” he said, adding they had a better game plan today compared to when they played them earlier in the season.

“We knew what we needed to do. We knew they were really disciplined as a team, and we knew how to exploit that as an offense. Our defense changed a lot since then; we made a lot of personnel changes and did really well for ourselves with that.”

Carlton opened the scoring late in the first quarter when Colm Philips beat the wind and punched a field goal through the uprights to make it 3-0.

In the second, BJM’s Liam Wilson took a handoff from quarterback Alex Hill and ran it deep into the Carlton redzone, setting up Ashton Houmphanh for a short run into the endzone a couple plays later to get the Saints on the board, 7-3.

Carlton marched the ball down the field on the ensuing possession but couldn’t find a way into the endzone and settled for a field goal, with Philips narrowly beating the wind as BJM held a 7-6 lead at the half.

The Crusaders got the ball to start the third quarter and caught fire out of the gate.

Philips found some room and broke several tackles on his way to a 28-yard gain, before Bladen Dogniez went another 14 yards up field with a catch and run. Despite the forward progression, Carlton turned the ball over on downs deep in the Saints end.

Later, BJM’s Ashton Kohlman recovered a Carlton fumble to start the fourth quarter to put the Saints deep into Crusader territory. That proved costly nearly three minutes later when Houmphanh ran the ball into the endzone for his second touchdown of the game to put BJM up 14-6 with 8:25 to go.

With 2:35 remaining and Carlton at midfield on third down, Philips launched a pass deep down field and found Dogniez, who was hauled down at the Saints’ seven-yard line for a 40-yard gain.

Two plays later, Philips lobbed a pass into the endzone for a wide-open Prodaehl making it 14-12. Carlton would go for two in an attempt to tie it, but BJM’s Leo Clements managed to get in front of the receiver and block the pass.

The Saints got the ball back on their own 35-yard line and were hit with a time count violation, resulting in a ten-yard penalty. However, Carlton declined instead of taking the ten yards, and BJM ended up getting just enough for the first down on the very next play.

That set up Hill for the QB kneel to run out the clock, as the Saints hung on for the 14-12 semifinal victory.

“We were led all year by a great group of graduating players and [it’s] sad that they don’t get to play one more week of football,” said Strachan following the loss. “We know whatever they’re going on to do, they’re great characters and whether they’re off into the workforce or off to a different football field, they’re going to do great things.”

—

loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

by Logan Lehmann

BJM outlasts Carlton to advance to 5A football provincial final

What's Trending