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Brandon-Evansville overcame a 24-22 deficit with a 16 point fourth quarter as they recorded a 38-24 win over Bertha-Hewitt in a Section 4 9-Man quarterfinal contest on Tuesday night. The win propels the Chargers into a semifinal meeting with top-seeded Verndale on Saturday afternoon.
Bertha-Hewitt struck first when Kole Weishalla connected with Aidan Bryniarski on a 4 yard touchdown pass and also hooked up on the two-point conversion pass to give the Bears an 8-0 lead. Brandon-Evansville pulled even on a one yard touchdown run and successful two-point conversion run by Tyler Bitzan as the first quarter ended with an 8-8 tie on the scoreboard.
In the second quarter, B-E took a 16-8 lead on a Titus Fuller 7 yard run and a two point conversion run, also by Fuller. The Bears came back with 5 yard scoring toss from Weishalla to Bryniarski and a two-point conversion run by Weishalla to make it a 16-16 game. Thirty seconds later Fuller broke loose for a 52 yard TD run, giving Brandon-Evansville a 22-16 halftime edge.
Weishalla hit Brendan Adams with a 5 yard TD pass and then teamed up with Kobe Hinzmann on the two-point conversion pass as the Bears took a 24-22 lead at the end of the third quarter.
B-E scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns, the first on an 18 yard run by Bitzan and the second on a 23 yard run by Fuller. Both two-point tries were successful on runs by Bitzan and the Chargers had a 38-24 victory.
"We made a lot of mistakes tonight that we will need to fix if we want to continue in the playoffs,” stated Brandon-Evansville Head Coach Tim Pattrin. “We put our defense in some bad situations and they held together well so we could stay in the game. The offense took a while to get rolling but once they did they finished the game well.”
The Chargers finished with 345 (62 passing, 283 rushing) total yards. They were led by Fuller (14 carries, 152 yards, 3 TD’s) and Bitzan (25 carries, 126 yards, 2 TD’s). Fuller completed 6-of-10 passes for 62 yards. John Roers led the receivers with 25 yards on 2 receptions. Bitzan (9 tackles, 3 solo, 12 assisted, 1 interception) and Aaron Gillespie (8.5 tackles, 4 solo, 9 assisted) led the defensive effort. Titus Fuller and Lucas Fuller each added an interception.
Weishalla was 20-for-36 throwing the football for 159 yards and 3 scores to lead Bertha-Hewitt. Bryniarski ran for 82 yards on 30 attempts and caught 4 passes for 13 yards and a pair of TD’s. Landan Adams (4 catches, 43 yards) and Brendan Adams (4 receptions, 41 yards, TD) also had 4 receptions each. Landan Adams and Aidan Bauch each recorded an interception for the Bears.