HIGHLANDS RANCH — If the rest of the season proves to be as exciting for fans of the Montrose football team as Friday’s opener was, pacemakers might be in order before mid-September.
Particularly if Indians coach Todd Casebier continues to make incredibly gutsy calls.
Opting to risk everything to go for the win instead of settling for a tie, Montrose quarterback Nathan Robertson found Johnathan Sierra for a two-point conversion in overtime that lifted the Indians to a 43-42 victory over Rock Canyon in a wild Zero Week affair at Shea Stadium.
Rock Canyon struck first in overtime with a 15-yard touchdown run by Eric Williams, and after Montrose’s Roland McLaren answered with a 2-yard touchdown run, the Indians went for the win.
“Coach (Casebier) made a great play call,” Robertson said. “We had Jonathan in motion in the backfield, and when they didn’t go with him, I knew he was going to be wide open.”
Montrose appeared to take control with three touchdowns in the second quarter, yet the Indians had to weather a furious Rock Canyon assault in the second half before finally securing the win in overtime.
The host Jaguars rallied to tie the score on three occasions in the second half, including twice in the fourth quarter.
After Rock Canyon climbed into a 21-21 tie, McLaren again gave Montrose the lead on a 98-yard kickoff return. The Jaguars answered with a 69-yard scoring pass from quarterback Matt Hopper to Mike Shepard to tie the game at 28-28 with 7:37 remaining.
Montrose recorded a potential winning touchdown on a 1-yard run by Bryce Gaber with 1:33 remaining, but the Jaguars weren’t done, promptly marching 80 yards on 13 plays. Williams bowled over several Montrose defenders at the goal line to complete an 8-yard scoring pass from Hopper with 10.9 seconds remaining to force overtime, but the Jaguars’ resilient comeback was nullified by Montrose’s nervy two-point conversion.
“We said we were going to go for two if they scored and got one,” Casebier said. “Just like it sounds, it could have gone either way, but we made one more play. I guess the good news is we answered, the bad news is we can’t let teams back in the game like that. We kept making plays, but so did they.”
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Montrose: 0 21 7 7 8 — 43
Rock Canyon: 7 0 14 14 7 — 42
RC: Hopper 1 run (Greiner kick). M: Stuart 1 run (Robertson kick). M: Stuart 1 run (Robertson kick). M: Sierra 22 pass from Robertson (Robertson kick). RC: Kelly 1 run (Greiner kick). RC: Williams 1 run (Greiner kick). M: McLaren 98 kickoff return (Robertson kick). RC: Shepard 69 pass from Hopper (Greiner kick). M: Gaber 1 run (Robertson kick). RC: Williams 8 pass from Hopper (Greiner kick). RC: Williams 15 run (Greiner kick). M: McLaren 2 run (Sierra pass from Robertson).
