Bronco offence runs over Muskies

Heading into last Friday’s tilt in International Falls, the Muskies knew they would have their hands full with the Broncos’ vaunted running attack.
And that’s exactly what happened–especially in the first half–as the host Broncos ran their way to a comfortable 28-7 victory over the black-and-gold.
The Broncos wasted little time showing off their running attack, taking the ball from their own 20-yard line and marching 80 yards in an eight-minute opening drive to grab an early 7-0 lead.
Although the Broncos were unable to spring a big play, they routinely gained three or four yards per carry against the Muskies’ much smaller defensive line.
“[The Broncos’ offensive line] is way better than last year,” noted Muskie head coach Bob Swing. “They are bigger, stronger, faster. They are a good, physical ball club and they ran the ball on us.
“They were just so big that they were able to run on us,” he added.
The Falls made it 14-0 before the Muskies’ own rushing star,
Terry LaBelle, galloped 65 yards in the second quarter to close the gap to 14-7 at the half.
But it wasn’t enough as the Broncos scored a pair of second-half touchdowns to secure the victory.
Swing said the key play of the game occurred midway through the third quarter when LaBelle had a Bronco pass go through his fingertips on an attempted interception and into the hands of a Falls receiver, who took the ball inside the Muskie one-yard line.
The Broncos eventually scored to make it 21-7, deflating the Muskies’ hopes of a comeback and dropping their exhibition record to 1-1 so far this season.
Despite the loss, Swing was pleased with his team’s effort against what he called a “very good” football club.
“I’m proud of our guys, they played a very good football game,” he said afterwards. “We were just beaten by a very good team.
“It was a very physical game,” he added. “It was like a heavyweight fight.”
Swing also said his defence played a “solid” game despite giving up 28 points to the Broncos for the second-straight year. And he feels the team should get back on track when they travel to Winnipeg this Friday to take on the Oak Park Raiders.
“You should see a different result against Oak Park,” he predicted. “Against the Falls, we had trouble with some of the American rules like getting called for motion penalties.”