Despite a slow start on its Homecoming night, the Battle Mountain High School football team rallied for the final 32 points of the game to beat Coral Academy out of Reno 38-9 to improve to 4-2 overall and 3-2 in the Northern 2A.
“It was a good way for us to bounce back,” said BMHS coach Mitch Domagala. “This is probably the best team Coral has had. They have been ahead of Yerington and play with the top teams for about a half. They just kind of run out of gas at the end and that is what happened tonight.”
From the start, Coral Academy attempted to use as much clock in between plays as it could, but saw its opening drive end with an unsuccessful fake punt. Battle Mountain took full advantage of the miscue and after a long pass by Brice Domagala to Terrance Fetterly,
Domagala capped the drive off with a 5-yard run to lead 7-0 midway through the opening quarter.
After the Falcons turned the ball over on an interception by Aydan Samuelson, the Longhorns gave the ball right back on downs.
Three minutes into the second quarter, Coral Academy took an 8-7 lead after a 64-yard run by Jared Fleischmann.
That turned out to be the lone points for the Falcons on the night.
Battle Mountain continued to hurt itself with turnovers, giving the ball back on the next possession, however the Falcons could not take advantage of the miscue.
The Longhorns drove down the fields after taking over on downs, as Fetterly scored on a 11-yard run to put Battle Mountain up 13-8 with 4:01 left in the first half.
The Longhorns forced the Falcons to punt on their next drive and after using timeouts to stop the clock, the Longhorns had 82 seconds to score.
It took Battle Mountain just under a minute to do that, as Fetterly broke free for a 7-yard run with 35 seconds left in the second quarter to give the Longhorns a 19-8 halftime lead.
“It was kind of an up and down first half for us,” Domagala said. “We jumped out to a quick start and they came back and took the lead. After we settled, we picked it back up and kept going.”
Battle Mountain took the opening drive of the second half and drained nearly six minutes off the clock, as Fetterly picked up his third touchdown of the night, this time from 5 yards out.
The Falcons looked poised to cut into the deficit late in the third quarter, but the Longhorns’ Jr Vazquez ended the drive with an interception in the end zone. The Longhorns quickly drove 80 yards in under two minutes and extended their lead to 32-8 after a 5-yard run by Domagala.
Sean Bengoa intercepted a Coral Academy pass in the fourth quarter, leading to the final touchdown of the night – a 2-yard run by Domagala.
The Longhorns played their younger players in the fourth quarter, with Sean Scherer taking all the carries on the final drive of the contest.
The junior was able to get Battle Mountain inside the 20-yard when the game ended.
“Everybody got to play in the second half and it is good to get those younger players in there,” added the coach. “There will be a time where we will need them. We were doing our best to get Sean the ball to score.”
Battle Mountain travels to Pershing County on Friday night for a 7 p.m. kickoff with the Mustangs. The winner of the game will earn the No. 3 seed in the regional playoffs and the loser will drop to No. 4.
“You always want to win your Homecoming game and it was good for the kids,” Domagala said. “It is always the worst week to prepare for a game. The kids powered through and did a good job. Now, we have to get ready for a big game on the road. It is a big one for us.”
