Ball big holes = bad news
Wolves' RB has 300 yds. by halftime
Montee Ball - the 6-foot, 212-pound machine in a Timberland jersey who will be heading to the University of Wisconsin - running behind an offensive line that boasts well over 1,300 pounds of muscle and meanness. And there's plenty of skill along the Wolves' line, which includes senior right tackle Ian Hanson (6-foot-2, 252 pounds), a returning all-stater, along with junior left tackle Nick Demien (6-6, 287), senior left guard Kurt Kutter (6-3, 271), junior right guard Godson Onwubiko (5-10, 278) and junior center Wayne McRoberts (6-2, 257).
"Some of those kids are going to be playing on Saturdays in a few years," Timberland coach Craig Collins said."Our offensive line's awfully good. We've got some big-time players up there. We've got several future college football players on that offensive line."
The results have been devastating on opposing defenses. In Week 1, Ball finished with 127 yards on 16 carries with four touchdowns as Timberland dismantled Duchesne 41-14. In a 37-0 shutout of St. Charles one week later, Ball carried the ball 17 times for 135 yards and three scores.
"It all pays off," Ball said. "All the off-season training that we did, it pays off, so I'm pretty proud of them."
On Friday, Ball and his road-grading friends put on a special show. At St. Charles West, Ball had over 300 yards by halftime, and he finished with an unofficial total of 321 yards on 18 carries, scoring six touchdowns as Timberland rolled to a 48-14 win.
"I give all the credit to the offensive line, because they were dominating the D-line on every play," Ball said.
And Ball was just dancing through the Warrior defense. With gaping holes ever-present at the line of scrimmage, Ball was able to get into the West secondary and zig and zag his way to pay dirt.
"We have men up there on our line," Collins said. "Montee's Montee, and he deserves all of his credit, but those guys are awful fun to run behind, and if we get Montee to the second level, he's just, that's just tough. At this level, if he breaks your front seven, you're in trouble."
Ball did it early and often on Friday, but it was actually West and senior quarterback Brannon Champagne who would strike first.
On the fifth play of the game's opening drive, Champagne kept the ball on an option play, cut up through the middle, broke a tackle about 5 yards past the line of scrimmage and was gone, racing 85 yards to put the Warriors on top. A bad snap led to a failed extra-point attempt but West led 6-0 a little less than three minutes into the game.
But that lead would be short-lived. On the first play of the Wolves' ensuing drive, Ball took the pitch, turned the right corner and tight-roped up the sidelines for a 36-yard gain. Five plays later, Ball ran it in from 2 yards, and Derrek Rehagen's kick made it 7-6 midway through the first quarter. After forcing the Warriors to punt on their next possession, Timberland took over at its 20, and quarterback Chase Cressong handed the ball to Ball, who ran up the middle, cut to his left, shot through a hole and turned on the gas, going all the way for an 80-yard score to put the Wolves up 14-6 with 3:55 left in the opening quarter.
"The offensive line killed the D-line on that play, and I just shot it straight up," Ball said.
In what would become an unfortunate turnover trend for West in the second quarter, junior running back Marcus Buchanan fumbled the ball off the pitch from Champagne and the Wolves' David Moore recovered. On the next play, Ball took off around the right tackle, bounced outside and ran 56 yards for another score.
"Whenever another team makes a mistake, you've got to take advantage of that," Ball said. "Just continue to play hard, try to get them to make more mistakes."
There wouldn't be any mistakes on the next drive for the Warriors, who capitalized on a bit of trickery to cut into Timberland's lead. On 3rd and 11 from the West 28, Champagne pitched the ball to Buchanan, then took off around the opposite corner. Buchanan ran toward the sideline, spun and flung the ball across the field for a wide-open Champagne, who took it for 33 yards. On the next play, Buchanan raced up the left side for 39 yards and a touchdown, and when Champagne improvised off a broken play for the extra point, he found Justin Lafser open in the end zone for a two-pointer that made it 21-14 with 9:43 to play in the first half.
But it was all Wolves from there. After turning the ball over on downs on its next drive, Timberland got the ball back two plays later when Peter Merz covered up a fumbled snap at the West 22. It then took three plays for Timberland to score, with Ball taking it in from 4 yards to put the Wolves ahead 28-14 with 2:10 left in the half. On the kickoff, a mistake by the Warriors' special teams allowed Timberland to fall on the loose ball at the West 21, and on the second play, Ball scored from 16 yards to make it 35-14 at the 1:26 mark.
"There were tunnels, and I was running straight through them," Ball said. "They were pretty wide. I mean, vision really wasn't anything today. It was just, 'Run straight up the field.'"
Then after the Wolves' Demitrius James recovered a fumbled exchange between Champagne and Buchanan at the Warrior 39, Ball needed just one play to take the ball straight ahead off a draw, then make a cutback at the 15-yard line that froze a West defender as Ball went in untouched to give his team a 42-14 advantage with 23.7 on the clock.
"He's pretty good," Collins said.
"We see it every day in practice. I mean, he'll just stop on a dime and get back to full speed. He's just got very good skills at that position, very good natural skills. We can't say that we've taught him a lot of that, and a lot of it wasn't there two years ago. He's really worked hard to become the type of guy that can cut like that. It's a tribute to his work ethic."
Timberland senior Jeff Beard closed out the scoring with a 2-yard run in the fourth quarter. The Wolves will next face perennial state power Hickman in Columbia next Friday.
"It's a big game for us," Collins said. "We scheduled it with the intent that it would be a tough one, it would be a playoff-type game, and we'll see where we're at. We'll see if we can compete with a team on their field, in front of a bunch of hostile fans, and the kids are really looking forward to it, I know, to see what they can do out there."
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Timberland 48, St. Charles West 14
Timberland 14 28 0 6 -- 48
St. Charles West 6 8 0 0 -- 14
First Quarter
S : Brannon Champagne 85 run (kick failed), 9:12
T: Montee Ball 2 run (Derrek Rehagen kick), 6:54
T: Ball 80 run (Rehagen kick), 3:55
Second Quarter
T: Ball 56 run (Rehagen kick), 11:41
W: Marcus Buchanan 39 run (Champagne pass to Justin Lafser), 9:43
T: Ball 4 run (Rehagen kick), 2:10
T: Ball 16 run (Rehagen kick), 1:26
T: Ball 39 run (Rehagen kick), 23.7
Fourth Quarter
T: Jeff Beard 2 run (kick failed), 8:13
