Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech star Running back rushes for over 200 yards in win over Montrose

Written by: Matt Beltz on Saturday, October 14th, 2023. Follow Matt Beltz on Twitter.

BLOOMSBURG – Last week, when going up against what at times was a deceptive rushing attack featuring multiple handoffs on certain plays against Cowanesque Valley, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech gave up several big plays, and also lost the turnover battle in a game that was partially played in the rain.

With Montrose being the opponent this week and running a similar, ground-focused offense, CMVT had an extra week of practicing against the same type of attack. Given the extra week of work, the Rams were much more successful this time around.

CMVT held Montrose to just 99 yards of offense, holding the Meteors without a first down in the first half, and despite playing in driving rain for most of the contest, the Rams did not lose a fumble this week, and CMVT picked up its second win with convincing 46-14 victory over the Meteors.

“It helped so much we had two weeks in a row to focus on it,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner. “When you’re trying to simulate an offense like this, or last week’s, you just kind of get used to it with your scout team when the week is over, so we had a second week of getting used to it, and having keys that we were keying on, and our kids did a really good job of staying in their gaps and having eye discipline.”

And while CMVT’s defense was up to the challenge, the Rams’ offense had no trouble moving the ball, as CMVT racked up 402 yards and took a 34-0 lead at halftime. Leading the way for the Rams’ offense once again was Braxtyn Brown out of the backfield. He ran for 223 yards on 25 carries and scored three touchdowns, marking his fifth straight game with 100 or more rushing yards.

“I told the kids we didn’t lose that game last week, but we learned from that game and we learned a lot of valuable lessons moving forward,” said Varner. “We did a lot of good things today. We also talked about concentration and the mental game in weather like this all week. The guys concentrated on making sure they had the ball secure today.”

The Rams scored touchdowns on three of their first four possessions to take a 22-0 lead early in the second quarter. After their initial drive stalled at the Montrose 13, the Rams took advantage of outstanding field position by beginning their second drive at the Meteor 28. The Rams needed just three plays and Brown capped the short drive with a three-yard touchdown to open the scoring.

CMVT then capitalized on a Montrose fumble, recovering it at the Meteor 37. This time, it took seven plays for the Rams to find the end zone, with Brown finishing the drive with a 12-yard touchdown.

Montrose had a bad snap on a punt on its ensuing drive, and the Rams took over at the Montrose 17-yard line, and this time it was Mason Haught’s turn as he capped a four-play drive with a four-yard touchdown to put the Rams up by three scores.

“Braxtyn has had a heck of a year but when we break down film, you see the job that Mason is doing at fullback,” said Varner. “Mason is a heck of a blocker. The fullback doesn’t get a lot of recognition, but he deserves a lot because when he is in there, that first guy never makes a tackle.”

The Meteors had three four-and-outs, and a three-and-out, lost a fumble, and also had a punt blocked on their first-half possessions. The blocked punt was recovered by Charlie Sego at the Montrose 6-yard line at the 5:28 mark of the second quarter, and CMVT needed just a single play – a six-yard touchdown catch by Ashton Smith from Caden Long – to take a 28-0 lead.

The Rams took over at their own 29 after a 44-yard punt by the Meteors with 2:58 left in the first half and then proceeded to put together an 11-play, 69-yard drive, capped by a five-yard touchdown reception by Tyson Brown with just :29 left in the half to open up a 34-0 lead heading into halftime.

With some of the Rams’ second-stringers taking over to start the second half, Montrose put together a 10-play, 56-yard drive to open the second half and score just their second touchdown of the season with 6:25 left in the third quarter on an 18-yard run by Jamier Robinson.

But the Rams got two more scores in the second half to invoke the mercy rule, as Brown punched in his third score of the day from 28 yards late in the third quarter, and then Smith caught his second touchdown of the day from Long early in the fourth quarter.

The game was played at Central Columbia High School, which has an artificial turf field that held up much better in the consistent rain, rather than CMVT’s natural grass field.

 

Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 46, Montrose 14

Montrose (0-5)                                    0   0  6  8 – 14

Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech (2-6)      14 20  6  6 – 46

First quarter

4:28 – (VT) Braxtyn Brown 3-yard run (Koser pass from Long), 3-28, 1:09

1:31 – (VT) Braxtyn Brown 12-yard run (pass failed), 7-63, 1:50

 

Second quarter

10:01 – (VT) Mason Haught 4-yard run (Haught pass from Long), 4-83, 1:54

5:20 – (VT) Ashton Smith 6-yard pass from Caden Long (run failed), 1-6, :08

:29 – (VT) Tyson Brown 5-yard pass from Caden Long (run failed), 11-69, 2:29

 

Third quarter 

6:25 – (M) Jamier Robinson 18-yard run (run failed), 10-56, 5:35

3:46 – (VT) Braxtyn Brown 28-yard run (pass failed), 5-40, 2:39

 

Fourth quarter

9:05 – (VT) Ashton Smith 6-yard pass from Caden Long (run failed), 7-71, 3:42

5:45 – (M) Julio Servo Calvigo 16-yard run (Servo Calvigo run), 5-76, 3:20

Statistics
                                                       M                          VT
First downs                                     5                             26

Rushes-net yards                        40-99                     52-289

Passing yardage                             0                            113

Passing                                      0-0-0-0                   7-16-3-1

Fumbles-lost                                  4-1                          3-0

Penalties-yards                             4-32                        4-25

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Montrose: Jamier Robinson (16-52-1), Hudson Aukema (12-(-30)), Julio Servo Clavigo (6-77-1), Josh Astacio (3-24), Wyatt Nabywaniec (2-(-23)), TEAM (1-(-1)); CMVT: Braxtyn Brown (25-223-3), Mason Haught (4-43-1), Kaeden Keller (4-25), Caden Long (3-(-6)), Ashton Smith (2-11), TEAM (4-(-7))

PASSING: Montrose: None; CMVT: Caden Long (6-15-69-3-1), Ashton Smith (1-1-44-0-0)

RECEIVING: Montrose: None; CMVT: Axton Koser (2-60), Ashton Smith (2-12-2), Logan Bracey (1-21), Braxtyn Brown (1-15), Tyson Brown (1-5-1)

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