By CARL HENNELL

The Daily Inter Lake

BIGFORK - The Polson High School football team went back to the basics Friday night.

In a game between the top two passing teams of the Northwestern A Conference, the Pirates ran 51 times for 288 yards and thumped Bigfork, 35-16, to spoil its homecoming.

Senior Bryce Picard returned from a sprained ankle and rushed for 90 of his 116 yards in the first half, senior Ted Morigeau added 107 yards on the ground and senior Derek Gerrity took over for both of them late in the third quarter and had 19 carries for 73 yards.

"Our philosophy has always been to try and run the ball," Polson coach Scott Wilson said. "But we've been so banged up in the backfield and we were finally healthy tonight. We have the ability to run the ball, we just haven't been clicking because we've been banged up and had a different rotation of backs each week learning the system."

Sophomore quarterback Craig Bagnell was there to compliment the running game with two touchdown passes and a sweet rollout pass on a 2-point conversion. He finished with 119 yards passing and hit junior wide receiver John Rausch on both touchdowns in the second quarter. The first one was a 13-yarder off a post-corner route. The second one, which happened just 3 minutes, 1 second later, was off a 19-yard middle screen.

"That first one, he (the cornerback) bit on the slant so I just went with it and took the corner route and just had to watch the ball in," Rausch said. "Running that route, I just have to run it crisp and the quarterback does the rest.

"Then that middle screen, that's the play we've been working on all week. We perfected that one. The line did a great job on that one. Nobody touched me until I got into the endzone. I credit that one to the line."

Morigeau did more damage than just from his running back position. He broke a couple tackles and got a handful of blocks in returning a punt 70 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. He also kicked three extra points, caught a 2-point conversion and had a 23-yard reception.

"I ran the wrong route (on the conversion) and nobody was around me so I just dropped back and there it was - Craig put it in the perfect spot," Morigeau said. "The punt return? It was perfect - everyone had blocks set up. Everyone just kept going and going.

"This game was a fun one."

Picard added a touchdown on Polson's second drive of the game to his game-high rushing yards and was beaming to be back in uniform.

"Usually we do rely on our run a little more," Picard said. "But lately it just has not been working. We hadn't had all three of our running backs healthy and we've been trying to pass the ball to change it up. We are just getting our running game back. Our line blocked well and we had some great holes to run through."

Indeed, the offensive line for Polson dominated.

"That was all weight room," Bigfork coach Aaron Stiegeler said. "They pushed us around all game. That goes to show their program has a great weight program. They've got a tremendous program. They had more kids standing on their sidelines not playing than we have on our whole team."

WILSON

I was pleased with how we ran the ball.

I was pleased with our defense. They've got two really good little receivers and for the most part we held them in check. I wish we could have gotten a little more pressure on their quarterback, but that was just a great job on their part up front. They picked up a lot of our blitzes, but we dropped around three interceptions. That was frustrating. But when you give a team time to throw the ball and they've got good receivers, they're going to catch some on you.

MORIGEAU

It was a fun one.

That's

PICARD

RAUSCH

Polson 7 13 15 0 - 35

Bigfork 0 8 0 8 - 16

First Quarter

P - Bryce Picard 6 run (Ted Morigeau kick), 5:47 (6 plays, 58 yards; key plays: Bryce Picard 15 run on 1st-and-10 to B 29, scoring play on 3rd-and-2).

Second Quarter

P - John Rausch 13 pass from Craig Bagnell (Morigeau kick), 4:47 (13 plays, 95 yards; key plays: Pat Dellwo 38 pass from Bagnellon 3rd-and-11 to B 43, Morigeau 6 run on 3rd-and-2 to B 29, scoring play on 3rd-and-6).

P - Rausch 19 pass from Bagnell (kick failed), 1:46 (5 plays, 51 yards; key plays: Picard 23 run on 2nd-and-4 to B 21, scoring play on 3rd-and-8).

B - Andrew Whittaker 39 pass from Dustin Haines (Justin Goode pass from Haines), :27.8 (8 plays, 81 yards; key plays: Haines 9 run on 3rd-and-7 to B 31, Brad Bell 30 pass from Haines to P 29, scoring play on 3rd-and-20).

Third Quarter

P - Derek Gerrity 2 run (Morigeau pass from Bagnell), 5:09 (4 plays, 40 yards; key play: Rausch interception, Morigeau 23 pass from Bagnell to B 17).

P - Morigeau 70 punt return (Morigeau kick), 4:03.

Fourth Quarter

B - Whittaker 57 pass from Haines (Aaron Vogel run), 5:33 (4 plays, 73 yards; key plays: Justin Goode 10 pass on 3rd-and-4 to B 43, scoring play).

Pol. Bgfk.

First Downs 17 9

Rushes-Yards 51-288 17-71

Passing Yards 119 221

Total Yards 407 292

Comp-Att-Int 8-15-2 14-41-1

Kickoff Ret 2-0 5-64

Punt Ret. 3-90 2-12

Punts 3-35.7 8-38.8

Sacked-Yards Lost 3-22 0-0

Interceptions-Ret. 1-0 2-37

Fumbles-Lost 4-2 3-1

Penalties-Yards 7-45 5-40

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING - Pol, Bryce Picard 15-116, Ted Morigeau 11-107, Derek Gerrity 19-73, Joe Andrews 2-8, Pat Dellwo 1-6, Beau Nordberg 1-(-3), Craig Bagnell 2-(-19). Bgfk, Aaron Vogel 17-78, Dustin Haines 2-(-1), Brad Bell 3-(-6).

PASSING - Pol, Bagnell 8-15-2-119. Bgfk, Haines 14-41-1-221.

RECEIVING - Pol, John Rausch 3-42, Conlin Benson 2-14, Dellwo 1-38, Morigeau 1-23, Picard 1-2. Bgfk, Justin Goode 5-38, Andrew Whittaker 4-111, Bell 3-49, Brice Hattel 1-20, Vogel 1-3.

Missed Field Goals - none.