Weiser comes up short in 21-14 loss to Fruitland

Published by admin on Wed, 10/03/2018 - 11:20am
Weiser vs Fruitland
Weiser quarterback Brody von Brethorst gives the ball to No. 16 Logan Wood during Friday night’s conference matchup with Fruitland on the Grizzlies’ field. Wood had four carries for 22 yards on the night. Weiser took an early lead with a touchdown in the first quarter and another score in the second quarter to go up 14-7 at halftime. Weiser had some productive drives in the second half, but they came up short by inches twice, forcing the Wolverines to turn over the ball to the Grizzlies. Weiser could not score in the second half, while Fruitland put up two scores to grab the win in a tough-fought game by both teams.
Weiser came up short Friday night in a 21-14 conference loss to a tough Fruitland team that outscored the Wolverines 14-0 in the second half.
 On two occasions, the Wolverines came up short by mere inches on first down attempts that ended offensive drives, and a fumble on Fruitland’s 5-yard-line that would have been the go-ahead score in the third quarter proved costly.
 The loss brings Weiser’s conference record to 1-1 and 4-2 overall. 
 “We didn’t score in the second half. We needed to score and we didn’t get it done. We came up short twice,” Weiser coach Tom Harrison said.
 Weiser took the lead halfway through the first period when quarterback Brody von Brethorst hit Paul Crawford for a pass that took the ball down to Fruitland’s 18 yard line. A penalty on the Grizzlies  moved the ball to the 11 yard line. 
 Braden Bumgarner got the carry and ran the ball 11 yards into the Fruitland endzone on a second effort after it looked like the Grizzlies made the stop at the line of scrimmage. A rare miss on the point after by kicker Angel Magana made the score 6-0 in Weiser’s favor. Weiser held a 6-0 lead when the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter.
 Weiser got a break when an apparent Fruitland touchdown was called back on a penalty early in the second quarter. The Grizzlies did get a touchdown with 9:40 left in the second quarter on a three-yard run by Zack Ziegler. The Grizzlies took a one-point lead at 7-6.
 Von Brethorst threw for 123 yards in the game for Weiser, including a 28-yard strike to Tim Reed for a touchdown with 3:54 left in the second quarter. Weiser went for the two-point converstion and got it on a keeper by von Brethorst, who found a clear lane into the endzone. Weiser was back in front 14-7.
 With 1:17 left in the half, Weiser’s Kooper von Brethorst picked off a pass by Fruitland quarterback Cole Eiguren to end the Grizzlies’ offensive drive. The Wolverines held on to a 14-7 lead at halftime.
 A fired-up Fruitland team had the ball first in the second half. QB Eiguren completed a big pass play for 30 yards to receiver Noah Hattrup to move the ball into Weiser territory. The Grizzlies scored on a 15-yard run by big No. 2 Jonathon Fagen into the endzone. Following the extra-point kick, the game was tied at 14-14 with 7:05 minutes left in the third quarter.
 Weiser drove nearly the length of the field on the next possession but came up short. After two penalties, the Wolverines were looking at first down and 26 yards to go. A personal foul on the Grizzlies got Weiser back some of those yards. 
 On fourth down and six yards to go for another set of downs, Weiser decided to go for it and von Brethorst kept it for a nine-yard run, enough for the first down. A few plays later, the Wolverines were successful in converting another fourth down and inches to keep the drive going. 
 Weiser was looking at first down on the Grizzlies’ 5-yard-line and poised for the go-ahead score with three minutes left in the third period. Unfortunately, a fumble derailed the drive and the Grizzlies recovered. The third quarter ended in a tie ball game, 14-14.
 Fruitland’s Eiguren scored on a two-yard rushing touchdown early in the fourth quarter to take the lead 21-14. The Grizzlies ran the ball a lot, collecting 274 yards of 344 total yards of offense on the ground in the game. Fagen led the Grizzlies with 15 carries for 113 yards. 
 The Grizzlies’ tight pass coverage and D-line pressure had von Brethorst scrambling in the fourth quarter with no open receivers down field. Von Brethorst ended up as the game’s leading rusher for Weiser with 51 yards.
 The Wolverines had one last drive going with less than three minutes left in the game. The Wolverines were faced with fourth down and were forced to go for it. Fruitland stopped the run and took over on downs. The Grizzlies held on to run out the clock and get the 21-14 win.
 Harrison said the two times the Wolverines came up short by inches on first down were costly against the Grizzlies. 
 “The kids fought hard. I’m proud of the way they battled. We knew we had a tough game ahead of us. We’ll watch film and learn and get better as a result,” he said. 
 Weiser put up a total of 235 yards of offense, a number that was fairly evenly divided between passing and running. Von brethorst completed 11 of 17 passes for 123 yards. Weiser had 112 yards rushing the ball and three fumbles. 
 It was a heavily penalized game, with a lot of yellow flags thrown and 230 yards of penalties between the two teams. Weiser had nine penalties for 94 yards and Fruitland had 15 penalties for 141 yards.
 Weiser was scheduled to play another SRV conference game against Payette at home on Friday to cap homecoming week for the Wolverines. Weiser district officials received word last Friday that Payette varsity football had canceled the rest of their season for various reasons. 
 Weiser was seeking to find another team to play and will move this year’s homecoming to the game against Homedale on Oct. 19. Weiser has a bye week on Oct. 12.

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18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
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