For the past few weeks, the Battle Mountain High School football team has seen little time on the field with its offense but still has put up an impressive number of points.
That was the case again on Friday night, as the Longhorns ran just 29 plays but scored 63 points in a 63-13 win over White Pine in Battle Mountain.
Battle Mountain (4-0 Northern 2A, 4-1 overall) picked up two punt returns from Aldo Castellanos in the win.
“It was a good win for us and some different kids stepped up and helped us,” said BMHS coach Mitch Domagala. “We did a lot of good things tonight. We scored twice on punt returns and you don’t see that too often.”
The Longhorns scored 62 seconds into the contest, as Cody Ostler broke free and scored on a 51-yard run on the second play of the game. Over a minute later, Battle Mountain was back in the end zone, as Castellanos returned a White Pine punt 48 yards. Battle Mountain missed the extra point to lead with 9:40 left in the first quarter. Missed extra points were one of the few miscues on the night for Battle Mountain.
After forcing a three-and-out on defense, Battle Mountain increased the advantage to 20-0 after quarterback DJ Martinez capped off an 88-yard, three-play drive on a 4-yard run.
White Pine jumped on the scoreboard midway through the first quarter on a 50-yard pass from Isaias Gonzalez to Phoenix bell on fourth and five.
That momentum did not last, as Battle Mountain scored two minutes later on a 1-yard run by Jose Guizar. Guizar was moved up to the JV team earlier in the week to fill in because of injuries.
Battle Mountain led 26-6 after 12 minutes of play and added three more touchdowns in the second quarter.
After stopping White Pine on downs, Battle Mountain appeared to add to its lead but a 30-yard touchdown by Guizar was called back on a penalty. However, on the first play of the second quarter, Ostler broke free for a 32-yard touchdown run and a 33-6 advantage.
Daimean Diaz intercepted Gonzalez on the Bobcats’ next drive and that led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Ostler. White Pine fumbled on its next possession and Guizar scored from 11-yards out moments later to give the Longhorns a 41-6 lead at halftime.
Special teams stepped up again for Battle Mountain in the third quarter, as Castellanos took a punt back to the end zone from 62 yards away, giving the Longhorns a 53-6 advantage.
White Pine struck from the air one more time, as on the next play from scrimmage, as Gonzalez connected with Ball on a 90-yard touchdown.
In his first varsity appearance, Guizar added his third touchdown of the night with 10:30 left in the game. Guizar had just four carries on the night for 32 yards but scored touchdowns on three of those.
“Not bad for a sophomore that came up to the varsity on Wednesday,” Domagala said. “He had a great game for us.”
Nestor Miramontes closed out the scoring with a 37-yard field goal in the closing minutes of the contest.
Ostler paced the rushing attack with 136 yards on seven carries and three touchdowns. Martinez was 7-of-12 passing for 131 yards.
“DJ didn’t have any touchdowns but I thought he threw the ball well,” added the coach. “Offensively, I thought we looked really good. We had a couple hiccups on defense but it’s hard to keep up the intensity in a game like that.”
Battle Mountain steps out of league play for the final time on Friday night to host American Falls, Idaho, at 7 p.m. The Beavers are 1-3 on the season and coming off a 54-6 loss to Sugar-Salem (Sugar City, Idaho).
“This will be a good test for us,” Domagala said. “They are a big team and will line up and just run the ball at you as much as they can.
