Game Summary/Box Score – AA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
June 30, 2007 Missoula Phoenix at Bitterroot Blaze @ Darby High School

BITTERROOT "INTERCEPTS" MISSOULA'S TITLE HOPES; CAPTURES RMFL AA CHAMPIONSHIP 15-0

DARBY – It was a typical summer evening in the Bitterroot Valley of southwest Montana... and a most typical result for its Bitterroot Blaze. What was not typical, however, was a record never seen before in pass defense as the Blaze intercepted the Missoula Phoenix 8 times, including 5 picks by Championship game MVP, Christian Brown, as the Blaze fought off the Missoula Phoenix one more time, this time for a 15-0 RMFL AA Championship game victory.

Missoula quarterback, Shane Jurasek, who had played unconsciously great the previous week, passing for over 300 yards and only one interception was chased and harrassed all day by a hard-charging Bitterroot defensive front, lead by Blake Hoge (1-1/2 sacks) and Brian Buckreus (1/2 sack). The Blaze front not only forced Jurasek into making a lot of tough throws, but constantly forced him out of the pocket, disrupting the Phoenix passing attack.

While the Blaze defense was pressuring Jurasek and holding Missoula running backs to only 5 yards on 7 carries (Jurasek also scrambled for 35 yards on 5 attempts), the Bitterroot offense, once again, relied upon the broad shoulders of the two time rushing champion, Justin Nixon, to carry the rock... and the offensive load. Nixon would rush for 154 yards on 27 attempts. As a team, the Blaze were generally held in check, only amassing 220 total net rushing yards and were victimized by 4 fumbles... of which, however, they recovered all 4. Buckie Brawley would complete only 4 of 11 passes, very typical for him. The leading receiver for the Blaze? Brian "porkchop" Gollnick, caught a pass 13 yards downfield on a tackle eligible play and then bowled into 3 Phoenix defenders for 7 more to top all Blaze receivers with 20 yards.

The game started out much like their first meeting in '07, won by the Blaze 6-0. The only scoring in the first half was two Eric Peterson field goals. The second of those field goals, a 46-yard attempt, actually hit the bottom crossbar, before caroming over and through to give the Blaze the 6-0 halftime lead.

It was not until Peterson hit his third field goal in the 4th quarter that another score would occur and the only touchdown coming when someone other than Christian Brown intercepted a pass. All-star linebacker, Jamie Jones, stepped in front of a pass over the middle and out-raced the Phoenix pursuit for a 38-yard touchdown to salt the game away with 8:57 remaining.

Ultimately, it was the Blaze defense stealing the show in this championship contest. Holding a Pheonix team that had just put up more than 400 yards the week before to the Vipers, to 122 total net yards of offense, 35 of which coming from Shane Jurasek scrambling for his life... or a first down. With only 10 completed passes and 12 rushing attempts, the leading tackler for the Blaze was actually Patrick Evers with 5-1/2, followed by Jamie Jones and Chris Jones with 4. The Blaze defense did not force any fumbles, but with 3 sacks and 8 interceptions, it just wasn't necessary. MVP, Christian Brown, who also had 2 nice punt returns for the Blaze, returned one of the interceptions 40 yards and almost scored before being hauled down by Jurasek just 20 yards short of the goal line.

The Missoula team had a number of performances to be proud of. James Decoteau lead the team with 10 tackles, including the only sack on Blaze quarterback, Buckie Brawley. Stephen Schreibeis recorded 9 tackles and had a couple of solid kick returns. And Jeff Hecht recorded 6 tackles from the defensive tackle position in attempts to stop Nixon before he could get started.

A capacity crowd at Darby High School looked on and enjoyed the Blaze completing a perfect season. It was a season which saw the Blaze once again, not only sport the top running back in the RMFL, but a defense that was not scored upon for their first 6 games. In 10 games in 2007, they Blaze gave up only 20 total points.

The Bitterroot Blaze are your 2007 RMFL AA Champions!!!

GAME NOTES: Bitterroot wide receiver, Mark Hausknecht, who suffered a compound leg fracture with 9:45 remaining in the 1^st quarter, is said to be recovering nicely from surgery. The injury created a 30 minute delay, with the game completing at 10:25 p.m. Hausknecht’s team visited him on Sunday and brought a nice pick-me-up with them… the Championship trophy. Mike Rasmussen also had to leave the game, however, his injury was not severe. The game also marked the first time in RMFL history that both teams had cheerleaders at the game. Look for an article on cheerleading in the RMFL later in the week. Christian Brown’s 5 interceptions is an RMFL record, post-season or regular season. Salt Lake’s Nate Cone did intercept 5 passes in the 2004 all-star game, however, one was on a non-statistical 2-point conversion play.

	Missoula Phoenix							0	0	0	0	0
	Bitterroot Blaze							0	6	0	9	15
	Scoring Summary:
	Second Quarter:
	BITTERROOT: Eric Peterson 34-yard field goal 8:22 BITTERROOT: Eric Peterson 46-yard field goal 1:48
	Fourth Quarter:
	BITTERROOT: Eric Peterson 19-yard field goal 14:12 BITTERROOT: Jamie Jones 38-yard interception return (kick failed) 8:57
		MISSOULA		BITTERROOT
First Downs		8		16
Rushes-Yds		12	40	52	220
Passing		10--30--8		4--11--0
Passing Yds.		101		50
Sacked-Yds		3	19	1		4
Net Passing Yds.		82		46
Total Yds.		122		266
Punts - Avg.		4-33.7		5-37.2
Penalties -Yds		7	60	14	127
Fumbles - Lost		0	0	4	0
Individual Stats:
Rushing:
Player -Team		Tot. Att.	Tot. Yds	TD's	2 pts.
Shane Jurasek - Missoula		5	35	0	0
Gavin Johnson - Missoula		6	4	0	0
Duane Mihlader - Missoula		1	1	0	0
Justin Nixon - Bitterroot		27	154	0	0
Buckie Brawley - Bitterroot		13	53	0	0
Tyler Jolley - Bitterroot		10	17	0	0
Bo Davenport - Bitterroot		1	-2	0	0
Matt Blakey - Bitterroot		1	-2	0	0
Passing:
Player		Comp.	Att.	Yds	TD's		Int.
Shane Jurasek - Missoula		10	30	101	0		8
Buckie Brawley - Bitterroot		4	11	50	0		0
Receiving:
Player		Recepts.	Yards	Td's	2 pts.
Gavin Johnson - Missoula		1	30	0	0
Ja'Ton Simpson - Missoula		2	20	0	0
Shane Byers - Missoula		2	14	0	0
Dave Garza - Missoula		1	12	0	0
Nick Lumpkin - Missoula		2	10	0	0
Clint Colwell - Missoula		1	8	0	0
Tyler Boaz - Missoula		1	7	0	0
Brian Gollnick - Bitterroot		1	20	0	0
Tyler Jolley - Bitterroot		1	17	0	0
Chris Brawley - Bitterroot		1	7	0	0
Matt Hausknecht - Bitterroot		1	6	0	0
Defense:
Player		Tackles	Sacks	Intercepts	TD's
James DeCoteau - Missoula		10	1	0	0
Stephen Schreibeis - Missoula		9	0	0	0
Jeff Hecht - Missoula		6	0	0	0
Tony Sanderson - Missoula		4.5	0	0	0
Habib Kambou - Missoula		3.5	0	0	0
Nick  True - Missoula		3.5	0	0	0
Kevin Bereta - Missoula		3.5	0	0	0
Zach Thompson - Missoula		3.5	0	0	0
James Jacobson - Missoula		3	0	0	0
Fred Russo - Missoula		2.5	0	0	0
Brian Hughes - Missoula		2.5	0	0	0
Zach Renner - Missoula		2.5	0	0	0
Dave Garza - Missoula		2	0	0	0
Bud Maynard - Missoula		2	0	0	0
Tyler Boaz - Missoula		2	0	0	0
Mike Hardenburgh - Missoula		1.5	0	0	0
Jeff Maynard – Missoula		1.5	0	0	0
Shane Jurasek - Missoula		1	0	0	0
Gavin Johnson - Missoula		1	0	0	0
Luke Bahnmaier - Missoula		1	0	0	0
Sheldon McCool - Missoula		1	0	0	0
Stevo Alaniz – Missoula		1	0	0	0
Taylor Crouch - Missoula		0.5	0	0	0
Duane Mihlader - Missoula		0.5	0	0	0
Patrick Evers - Bitterroot		5.5	0	0	0
Jamie Jones - Bitterroot		4	1	1	1
Chris Jones - Bitterroot		4	0	0	0
Chris Brown - Bitterroot		3	0	5	0
TJ Ward - Bitterroot		3	0	0	0
Kurt Rausch - Bitterroot		3	0	1	0
Kyle Rausch - Bitterroot		2.5	0	1	0
Blake Hoge - Bitterroot		2.5	1.5	0	0
Brian Buckreus - Bitterroot		1.5	0.5	0	0
Mike Tryon - Bitterroot		1.5	0	0	0
Derek Zeiler - Bitterroot		1	0	0	0
Bo Davenport - Bitterroot		1	0	0	0
Joe Murawa - Bitterroot		0.5	0	0	0
Kick Returns:
Player		Punt Ret	Punt Yds	Kick Ret	Kick Yds
Stephen Schreibeis - Missoula		3	42	4	87
Luke Bahnmaier - Missoula		0	0	1	20
Chris Brown - Bitterroot		2	40	0	0
Kurt Rausch - Bitterroot		1	5	0	0
TJ Ward - Bitterroot		0	0	1	26
Kicking:
Player		xpt att	xpt made	fg att	fg made
Mark Spencer - Missoula		0	0	1	0
Eric Peterson - Bitterroot		1	0	4	3

Game Preview by: Jared Neumeier

DARBY – And finally… the game that (almost) no one thought would happen.

The 3-peat match between the Missoula Phoenix and the Bitterroot Blaze for the 2007 AA title.

I only say (almost) no one thought this would occur because (almost) no one expected the Missoula Phoenix to go down to Utah and upset the dominating Vipers on their own home turf… but they did.

Now most prognosticators around the league generally expected the Bitterroot Blaze to hold serve and knock off the Bear River Valley Rockets to get into the title game, however, (almost) no one would have expected they would have beaten the Rockets 50-7 to do so.

So both teams ride into the AA title game with some recent and significant (unexpected) success; perhaps the Phoenix with the most unexpected of all.

However, how will this all translate into the actual game… after all, the Blaze have already beaten Missoula twice this season, and counting last season, 4 in a row. To state it more dramatically, Missoula has NEVER beaten Bitterroot.

Is there any reason to suggest they will start now?

Well…

Did I mention that (almost) no one thought they would go on the road to beat the Vipers?

Well, I can guarantee that (almost) no one is expecting them to travel 40 miles south and beat the Blaze in Darby either.

What is clear is that the Missoula Phoenix do seem to be improving as the season has progressed. In the first contest between Bitterroot and Missoula, the Blaze did win only 6-0 and the Phoenix did shut them out of the scoreboard for about 3-1/2 quarters after the Blaze got their only touchdown, BUT the Blaze had 326 total yards (305 rushing, 21 passing) in that game. The Phoenix only had 105 total yards (6 rushing , 99 passing). In other words, as far as moving the football on the opponent, the Blaze had a lot clearer edge than the 6-0 score would indicate.

IN the second game, won by the Blaze 20-10, the difference was significantly tighter… with the Blaze amassing only 202 total net yards (155 rushing, 47 passing), while the Phoenix improved to 168 total yards (61 rushing, 107 passing) even though they fell by a larger 20-10 margin.

And NOW the Phoenix have beaten the Vipers.

If you were to chart the week to week progress of the Missoula Phoenix beginning with the first meeting, the chart would definitely be on a steep upswing.

Now I don’t say all of this because I am picking the Missoula Phoenix to pull off the big upset, I only suggest that it wouldn’t be THAT big of an upset.

I believe that the Blaze will continue to pound Nixon and Jolley at the undersized Phoenix defense and mix in more Buckie Brawley passes to keep the Missoula defense honest and I expect the Blaze to prevail, however, this is much the same strategy the Vipers just tried with Josh Christensen, Devon Holbrook, et all… and failed.

The Blaze, however, just seem to be able to play the kind of aggressive and consistent defense that gives opposition fits. Missoula’s Shane Jurasek IS a fine quarterback, he has been so for many, many seasons now in the RMFL, however, Bear River Valley’s Mike Jenkins has proven to be even a bit better… and the Blaze forced him into 5 interceptions. Now in all deference to the Rockets, they did not have as full a squad as they would have had at home in Utah, however, most of their key players were there and their offensive line is still one of the best. The Phoenix may be improving… but, perhaps, so are the Blaze.

If I am coaching the Phoenix, I think I would be (first of all, getting Dave Garza healthy; he seemed to have had a minor ankle injury in the Viper game that kept him on the sideline for a while) and then I would put Jurasek in the shot gun formation and pass on almost every play. Jurasek is extremely comfortable in the shotgun and quite capable of running a quarterback draw from that position or hurting a team with the RMFL’s “Stongest Arm”, a title he has won two years straight. I just think that too much running into the teeth of the Blaze defense or trying to spend too much time dropping back from center will only play in the Blaze strength. The Blaze are very proud of the interceptions their secondary has taken in 2007, in fact they lead all teams with 21. However, how many of those picks were caused by the defensive front putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks?

For the Blaze, Buckie Brawley will not make anyone forget Troy Dougherty, however, he is a better passing quarterback than anyone the Vipers have (or used). The Blaze WILL need to make Missoula respect their passing game enough… and I think they will.

I will really enjoy being at this game and I expect the game will be in doubt until the final gun, but I would be folly to bet against the higher rated home team in this one, however, it may be equally foolish to wager against this Missoula Phoenix team as well.