Goal-line woes sink Muskies

Because the Muskie ‘B’ football team couldn’t finish drives, the International Falls Broncos finished them off.
Tyler Weir turned the corner on the black-and-gold defence for the tying touchdown with 4:40 to play in the fourth quarter, then did it again for the go-ahead two-point conversion as the visiting Broncos eked out a 16-14 win here yesterday afternoon.
“They’ve got that taste [for victory] in their mouth now, it’s right there,” said Muskie offensive co-ordinator Shane Beckett after the near miss. “It’s certainly going to make them hungrier.”
It wasn’t so much the Broncos’ late goal-line success that was tough to swallow as it was the Muskies’ red zone inefficiency that cost Fort Frances (0-3) the win.
On their first possession of the game, the Muskies chewed up almost 10 minutes on the clock as they drove from their own 40 to the Broncos’ two.
But Steven Boileau, who made several big catches while doubling as the team’s kickoff specialist, fumbled after catching a pass near the sideline and Dan Ducharme of the Falls recovered to bail the Broncos out.
Then late in the third quarter, after Boileau hauled in a 30-yard pass from quarterback Joel Herbert and running back Jordan York powered his way to set up a first-and-goal, Herbert was picked off by Joel Stougard at the one to end the threat.
“It hurts any time you march down the field and don’t convert,” said Beckett. “I thought it was the perfect play, but their guy made a good play and got a jump on the ball.”
The first half was highlighted by defence and a spectacular special teams play by the Muskies, which set up the only score.
After a Falls’ drive stalled at their own 36 early in the second quarter, punter Devon Clark had his kick blocked by Muskie lineman D.J. Howells, with Fort Frances taking over on the Broncos’ 31.
Two penalties by the Falls helped move the Muskies into scoring range, and York made the visitors pay by taking a hand-off on third and six at the Broncos’ 15 and ripping through two tacklers to find the end zone.
The failed two-point conversion that followed seemed insignificant at the time, but proved to be gigantic at game’s end.
The Falls pulled ahead on their third play from scrimmage in the third quarter as Jacob Larsen found daylight and took the ball 64 yards down the sideline for the major.
It was a bittersweet score for Larsen, though, who had his day end on the play when he strained his Achilles’ tendon after being tackled at the goal line by Terry Carmody.
Weir backed his way into the end zone over a pile of bodies for the two-point convert and an 8-6 Broncos’ lead.
After Stougard’s interception on the following drive, the Broncos were held in check by the Muskie defence, and a subsequent short punt had Fort Frances start their next possession on the Broncos’ 39.
Carmody, filling in at running back after York left the game with a hip injury in the third, completed the drive in style early in the fourth.
He outraced Falls defender Nick Sether to the outside on a toss play from the Broncos’ four to put the Muskies back in front, then slipped through a crowd to tack on the two-point conversion for a 14-8 advantage.
“We know we can go to Terry at any point,” Beckett said about Carmody, a first-year Muskie who began the season at running back before being converted to a receiver against the Roseau Rams in their last game two weeks ago.
But after Weir returned the kickoff all the way to the Broncos’ 51, Clark caught Carmody cheating up from the secondary to play the run on first down.
The pivot found Stougard roaming free in the secondary for a 49-yard gain, with Carmody showing outstanding hustle to chase down the Falls’ receiver at the Muskie 10.
Weir then went to work, just eluding Muskie defenders on a sweep to scoot in on a second-and-goal play from the one.
He then capped the Broncos’ comeback by taking another toss on the two-point convert attempt and barely escaping the diving tackle of Boileau to reach the near corner of the end zone.
The Muskies’ last possession looked promising, but was derailed on a fourth-and-nine from the Broncos’ 42 as the black-and-gold turned the ball over on downs after Carmody could only pick up a yard on an end run to the right.
The Broncos then picked up the clinching first down when Clark gained four yards on a third-and-three, and the Falls ran out the clock from there.
The Muskies next travel to play the Warroad Warriors on Monday, before returning home for an Oct. 6 match-up with the Lake of the Woods Bears (Baudette)—a game just recently added to the schedule.
Fort Frances then close their season against the Rams there Oct. 14.