Matt Coss

Your Prep Sports

WILTON – With less than 8 minutes remaining Friday night, the West Branch football team had a 10-point advantage and was on the brink of a district championship.

Wilton had generated only 104 yards of offense up until that point.

“We had the momentum there and we just needed to capitalize on it,” Bears coach John Hierseman said.

Instead, Class 1A sixth-ranked Wilton authored a comeback.

The Beavers pieced together two touchdown drives in the final 5 minutes, 33 seconds to stun the seventh-ranked Bears 21-17 at Wilton High School.

It was Wilton’s first win over West Branch in 10 years and just a season removed from a 47-point setback to the Bears.

“This is a signature win for us,” Wilton coach Ryan Hetzler said. “I told our guys, it is definitely one of the gutsiest performances I’ve been part of as a coach and couldn’t be more proud.

“West Branch has been on top for a long time, and our guys have seen that. We have a lot of football-minded people and they’ve seen West Branch beat us pretty badly the last couple of years. This is a big stepping stone for them and they know the significance of that win. This has been on their charts for a long time ever since they walked in here.”

Wilton (7-0, 4-0) secures at least a share of the District 5 championship.

The Beavers can win it outright next Friday with a home win over Regina (6-1, 3-1).

If Regina should prevail and West Branch (4-3, 3-1) beats Durant, there would be a three-way tie.

All three teams have qualified for the playoffs.

“We can still get done what we want to get done,” said Hierseman, whose team had its four-game win streak snapped. “We’re in a good position. If we can take care of next week, it will hopefully put us in a good position for the playoffs.”

Still, this one stung for the Bears.

West Branch held 7-0, 10-0 and 17-7 leads in the game.

Wilton, behind junior Owen Hassell, produced 112 yards on its last two possessions.

Hassell scored on a 10-yard touchdown run with 5:33 left to trim the deficit to three.

Then after West Branch went three-and-out, Wilton marched 43 yards in nine plays.

Hassell capped the comeback with a 7-yard score with 44 seconds remaining.

Hassell finished with 103 yards on 24 carries.

“We just played our hearts out and that’s what happens when you play your hearts out,” Hassell said. “Nobody quit. Nobody backed down. We just kept going.”

Hassell also had a 95-yard kickoff return for a score to get Wilton on the board in the third quarter.

It was the first time all season he’s returned a kick.

“Owen is an ultimate football player,” Hetzler said. “He wants the ball in his hands every single time he’s on the field, which is what we want.

“We thought it could be tough sledding for him to get the ball in open space tonight, so we thought putting him at kick return was our best option for that and it worked out.”

Hetzler felt his team wore West Branch down, particularly in the trenches, in the final quarter.

“Our guys really kicked it up a notch,” Hetzler said. “West Branch is really solid up front, they move around and play an odd-man front. In the first half, we were feeling them out like a boxing match. We looked at the camera at halftime and saw where we needed to adjust.

“In the fourth quarter, our conditioning kicked in and we finished the game.”

Meanwhile, Hierseman said West Branch had too many missed tackles late.

“They started breaking our defense down,” West Branch senior Cale Seydel said. “We were still playing hard, but they came out with it.”

It was a physical and chippy affair.

West Branch center and middle linebacker Reese Trepanier left the game with a finger injury in the first half and never returned.

Two-way player Zach Capper was injured on a defensive collision in the fourth quarter and didn’t come back into the game.

“It certainly hurt losing Reese,” Hierseman said. “He’s not only a great player, but he’s an emotional leader for us.”

The game featured 18 penalties, including 10 unsportsmanlike infractions. West Branch was flagged 10 times for 125 yards and Wilton eight for 85.

“It is an old rivalry and we’ve been in the same conference for years and years,” Hierseman said. “I don’t think it is really bad blood as much as it is a heated rivalry.”

West Branch had the upper hand for most of the night.

Seydel, after two interceptions in last week’s win over Regina, hauled in another in the first quarter at the Wilton 20-yard line.

The Bears capitalized on the short field with a 4-yard touchdown run from Auron Marsh.

Reese Gingerich booted through a 22-yard field goal in the third quarter to extend the lead to 10-0.

After Wilton answered with Hassell’s kick return for a score, West Branch countered.

Quarterback Brennen Dale hit Joe Hamann for a 31-yard touchdown strike with 5:12 left in the third quarter to help the Bears regain a 10-point lead.

West Branch, however, produced only three more first downs after that point.

“We stubbed our toe on a couple of drives there,” Hierseman said. “You can’t keep giving a team like that opportunity after opportunity. Our defense did well until very late, but we just gave them too many opportunities.”

West Branch still had one final chance.

Dale and Seydel hooked up for a 27-yard completion as the Bears reached the Beaver 27-yard line with 9 seconds left.

On their final offensive play, Dale’s pass was intercepted in the end zone by Wilton’s John Clelland.

“We just need to keep working and keep fighting,” Seydel said. “Hopefully, we will see them again.”

                                      WB                 WIL

First downs                14                    15

Rushes-yards             41-160             37-138

Comp-Att-Int.           11-21-1           11-22-2

Passing yards             106                  78

Total yards                266                  216

Punts-avg.                  7-32.9              7-30.6

Fumbles-lost              1-1                   0-0

Penalties-yards         10-125             8-85

West Branch              7    0    10    0    –   17

Wilton                         0    0    7     14   –    21

WB – Auron Marsh 4 run (Reese Gingerich kick)

WB – FG Gingerich 22

WIL – Owen Hassell 95 kickoff return (Gatlin Rogers kick)

WB – Joe Hamann 31 pass from Brennen Dale (Gingerich kick)

WIL – Hassell 10 run (Rogers kick)

WIL – Hassell 7 run (Rogers kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – West Branch: Cale Seydel 12-67, Brennen Dale 9-34, Auron Marsh 10-30, Zach Capper 9-28, Cooper Gates 1-1. Wilton: Owen Hassell 24-103, Drew Keith 10-31, Hayden Hill 2-7, Team 1-(-3).

PASSING – West Branch: Dale 11-21-1, 106 yards. Wilton: Keith 11-22-2, 78 yards.

RECEIVING – West Branch: Seydel 3-41, Joe Hamann 2-31, Trenton Schutte 3-13, Shae Farmer 1-8, Conner Capper 1-7, Connor Rios 1-6. Wilton: Cade Souhrada 4-31, Landyn Putman 2-16, Gatlin Rogers 2-12, Hassell 1-10, Kale McQuillen 2-9.