Blair quarterback Cooper Sorensen gave his football team a chance on the road Friday night at Lincoln Pius X.
Moving to his right with Thunderbolt pressure bearing down, the senior threw an on-target pass into the end zone as time expired. Brock Templar was there in the southwest corner of Aldrich Field, but so, too, were players in green jerseys with yellow helmets.
The football ultimately found its way to the turf, setting off a Pius X celebration. It won 35-28, holding off the Bears who'd just, minutes earlier, completed a 15-point second-half comeback to tie the game.
BHS coach Bryan Soukup consoled a visibly distraught Templar after both coach and player went through the handshake line.
“He's a competitor and he believes he can make any play,” the coach said. “And I believe it, too.”
Templar and the Bears made more than their fair share of plays during Friday's ballgame, overcoming a four-touchdown performance by the Bolts' Joe Andreasen to have a chance to tie or win at the end.
“It just sucks that somebody had to lose the game,” Soukup said.
First, on Blair's opening drive, receiver Nelson Kosch hauled in a third-down conversion pass from Sorensen near midfield, setting up the eventual touchdown. Templar soon caught another one of his QB's throws, converting it into the 30-yard score when he kept his feet through a Thunderbolt tackle. Several defenders watched the senior race down the sideline without moving, thinking the ball carrier was down by contact.
Down 14-7 during the second quarter, BHS again converted with its drive on the line when Hayden Daggett caught a fourth-down Sorensen pass down to the Pius 10-yard line. From there, Blaise Baughman scored on the ground, following a Brady Wolff block on Andreasen to get there.
Blair missed the extra-point kick, but it was in the 14-13 game with its rushing attack producing satisfactory results.
“It helps having two really good backs,” Soukup said, crediting his linemen, too. “Brock and Blaise are phenomenal backs.”
The next scores belonged to Pius X, though. First, a referee's call inside the Bears' 5-yard line went the Bolts' way, allowing them to keep the ball and earn a 21-13 lead just 13.7 seconds before halftime.
Then, Blair's luck got worse when a Sorensen pass was deflected and intercepted for another Pius touchdown just 11 seconds into the third quarter.
Down 15 points, 28-13, though, Coach Soukup's team kept plugging away.
“We continued to battle,” he said. “That's just it. We fought hard.”
The Bears did so sparked by their special teams unit. Still behind by two scores, Bo Meier recovered a punt muffed by a Thunderbolt returner, setting up Templar's third touchdown of the Class B matchup. He scored from 15 yards out with 6:52 left in the third quarter before adding another 10-yarder in the fourth with just 4:54 left in the game altogether. The second run was set up by another muffed punt, which, this time, was recovered by BHS sophomore Andrew Smutny.
Andreasen and Pius X answered the Bears' challenge, however, scoring the go-ahead points with 1:18 left.
Still, down 35-28, Blair again gave itself a shot to leave Lincoln with a better result. Templar returned the ensuing kickoff to midfield before the play ended with a personal foul penalty against the Thunderbolts.
After struggles on first through third down, Sorensen evaded a tackler on fourth, spinning out of his grasp in the backfield and completing a first-down-worthy throw to Keenan Wyman at the 18 yard line with 18 seconds left in the game.
“Cooper moved around very well and gave us a chance,” Soukup said.
The quarterback did it again on the final play of the game, but the aforementioned pass ultimately fell to the ground incomplete. The Bears lost, but, like Pius, overcame multiple delays due to referee discussion and clock malfunction to give themselves a shot in the end.
“It seems like there was a lot of rollercoaster rides tonight with everything that took place,” Coach Soukup said. “But it is what it is.”
His 1-1 team next competes Friday against No. 2 Gretna. The game starts at 7 p.m. on Krantz Field.
LINCOLN PIUS X 35, BLAIR 28
BHS (1-1) 7 6 7 8 — 28
LPX (1-1) 14 7 7 7 — 35
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
PX: Joe Andreasen 10-yard run, Brayden Armagos PAT
B: Brock Templar 30-yard pass from Cooper Sorensen, Jack Schroeder PAT
PX: Andreasen 3-yard run, Armagos PAT
Second Quarter
B: Blaise Baughman 10-yard run, PAT failed
PX: Charlie Morrow 3-yard pass from Maddox Stuertz, Armagos PAT
Third Quarter
PX: Andreasen 25-yard interception return, Armagos PAT
B: Templar 15-yard run, Baughman PAT
Fourth Quarter
B: Templar 10-yard run, Templar 2-point conversion
PX: Andreasen 1-yard run, Armagos PAT
