When the story is told years from now, there are going to be a lot more people saying that they saw Battle Mountain come back from a 22-point fourth quarter deficit to beat rival Pershing County.
With the Longhorns struggling on offense, the Mustangs were in control this past Friday night for much of the game. The stands began to empty out in the fourth quarter, but what unfolded after that may have brought some back to Tim Knight Field.
Battle Mountain scored 22 unanswered points in the final 12 minutes of play to send the game into overtime, a contest the Longhorns eventually won 42-36 in triple overtime. Battle Mountain had only 13 yards of offense in the first half, before making the comeback.
“The kids were tense the entire first half, and that is on me,” said BMHS coach Mitch Domagala. “I didn’t have them ready to play. We went to halftime and just talked. We talked about slowing down on offense, remembering what we are doing and just going out there and executing . The kids got going on offense and that fired up the defense. What happened in the final quarter and the overtimes is something I haven’t seen.”
Pershing County controlled much of the clock for the first half, including the opening drive of the night that lasted nearly seven minutes. The Mustangs were aided by a personal foul call on the Longhorns, and Pershing County quarterback Angel Ramirez kept the possession going on a fourth down completion.
After a 13-yard run by Marcus Nester, Pershing County jumped on the board with a 12-yard pass from Ramirez to Ethan Rhodes.
Battle Mountain could not get its offense in gear, and on a third punt attempt, a bad snap gave Pershing County excellent field position. The Mustangs needed just one play to take advantage of the miscue as Marcus Nester scored from four yards out, giving the Mustangs a 16-0 lead.
The Longhorns went three-and-out on its next drive, and Pershing County was back in business with an 85-yard drive. Ramirez drove Pershing County down the field with passes to Vince Evenson and William Gattrell.
The drive ended with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Gattrell and a 22-0 lead at halftime.
After controlling the pace of the game for the first 24 minutes, Pershing County could not find that spark in the second half, with two interceptions and a three and out.
With the Battle Mountain defense stepping up, the offense got in gear, scoring with 5:54 left in the fourth quarter on a 2-yard run by Arturo Serrano. The Longhorns missed the 2-point conversion and trailed 22-6.
The second interception, by Regan Knight set off the further chain of events. With the game on the line, Bryan Chavira converted a fourth-down pass to Kort Beaver. Moments later, the duo combined for a 21-yard touchdown pass and the 2-point conversion by Chavira brought the deficit with eight points at 22-14 with 3:01 to play.
The struggles for Pershing County mounted, with two penalties and an incomplete pass on the next possession. The Mustangs were forced to punt, and the Longhorns needed to drive 66 yards, score a touchdown and make the 2-point conversion in just over two minutes to send the game in overtime.
“We just put ourselves in a hole,” said PCHS coach Dave McLean. “We couldn’t get a first down in the second half and could not get out of our own way. We gave them field position in the second half.”
It appeared that would happen when Chavira hit Jaren Price for a 50-yard touchdown. However, the play was called back on an illegal shift flag. Three plays later, Battle Mountain kept the drive going with an 11-yard pass to Calvin Goddard on fourth and 10. A run by Brenden Petersen and a pass to Petersen put Battle Mountain on the eight-yard line, where Chavira hit Reese Artz for the touchdown with 39 seconds to play. Arturo Serrano added the 2-point conversion to tie the game.
“You could see Lovelock was tired,” Domagala said. “They were on their knees and tired. They just wore down, and that is a credit to how we played.”
Battle Mountain won the toss for overtime, where the drive starts on the opponents’ 10-yard line. All plays are untimed.
“You could see them get a little success and momentum, and it was tough to stop,” McLean said.
The Longhorns took a 30-22 lead after a 10-yard pass from Chavira to Beaver. The 2-point conversion was successful. The Mustangs came back to tie game with an 8-yard run by Ty Arnett. Arnett added the 2-point conversion.
Petersen started the second overtime with a 10-yard on the first play from scrimmage. However, the Longhorns missed the extra point, leaving the score at 36-30.
Arnett came back for Pershing County and scored on a 2-yard run to tie the game. The Mustangs did not opt to kick the extra point, but went for two points and failed.
In triple overtime and fourth down from the 10-yard line, Chavira hit Artz for the touchdown and a 42-36 advantage after the missed conversion. Pershing County had one last opportunity, but on fourth down Knight batted a pass down in the end zone, securing the win for the Longhorns.
“It doesn’t get any better when Regan knocks down a pass to give us the win on Tim Knight Field,” Domagala said. “With us losing 22-0, no one thought we were going to win.”
Battle Mountain travels to West Wendover on Friday for a 7 p.m. kickoff and Pershing County heads to Yerington for a 7 p.m. start.
“We can’t take anything for granted the rest of the way,” Domagala said. “We need to finish the season strong.”
