Senior Laurence Allderdice
As the starting line-ups were read the seemingly endless line of 19 Box Elder Bears across the field from the Pioneers was intimidating, but the Pioneers and Coach Ronnie Simpson had one thing in mind Friday night. WIN. Win they did, and with a final score of 70-34 one may think it was an easy one, but that is not the case. The Pioneers did come out of the blocks tough and shut down the Bears on a fourth and one to set the tone of who would be leading the charge to victory. Then after a failed first drive by the Pioneers, Laurence Allderdice intercepted the ball and put the Pioneers in scoring position for him to rush it in. Duke Darlington's golden foot got us the 2 extra points to put the Pioneers up 8-0 at 6:05 to go in the first.
The Bears would drive right back down and get six points at 4:34 to go in the first with no point after. Soon after the Bears ran back a fumble and then got a field goal and suddenly the Pioneers found themselves down 14-8 with 3:37 to go in the first quarter. Unfortunately for the Bears, the glory didn't last with Laurence getting a rushing touchdown with Duke adding two and then Laurence ran a 65 yard punt return with Duke hitting his 3rd in a row making the score 24-14 and the end of the first quarter.
With the momentum shifted back to the Pioneers they came out striking in the second quarter. The Pioneers freshman quarterback Brock Proulx connected with a nice 15 yard pass to Duke Darlington for the touchdown. The second quarter would continue with a rushing touchdown then a passing touchdown to Laurence putting the Pioneers up 44-22 with 2:05 to go in the half.
The Bears did not back down. They made a strong drive at the end of the half and put it in the end zone and almost got a touch back, before the buzzer saved the pioneers, showing the Pioneers they were not done yet. Then the Bears came right out of half and scored two more touchdowns and had Big Sandy fans sweating a bit with the score close again at 44-34 with 2:57 to go in the third. The Boys on the field were rock solid though, and went to work chalking up a touchdown by the end of the third. Then plagued by penalties the Bears had to kick and Dylan Darlington scooped up a blocked punt and put the bears in their den at 8:35 to go in the fourth. Brock and Duke would connect one more time in the air for a score. Then just when ya thought the boys would just wind down the clock and collect their paycheck for the night Laurence scoots around the end for a 70 yard touchdown run. Perhaps just a little payback for those long nights on the hardwood last winter.
It was a beautiful evening of football Friday. There was a great turnout with concessions selling over 100 burgers before the varsity game even started. The kiddos were battling in the end zones with their side game and the game on the field was clean and entertaining to the end. The Pioneer squad has a great squad of players this year. Weston Allderdice has the aggressiveness and hitting power to put any team in their place. Dallas Geyer has an explosive energy to keep motivation high. This years team is a real pleasure to watch and I can't wait for next week against Heart Butte. "Other" papers have the Pioneer's listed at 1-1, so for the best Pioneer football coverage stick with the Mountaineer sold locally at your favorite store or online at http://www.bigsandymountaineer.com when your on the go.
Total offense: Box Elder 302 yards Big Sandy 337 yards
Plays: Box Elder 51 Big Sandy 47
Turnovers: Box Elder 4 Big Sandy 2
