ALMEDIA – After playing what he described as “maybe the best half of football we’ve ever played execution-wise” in its 44-14 win at Montrose, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech coach Mark Varner wanted to see his team come out and similarly execute at home against Renaissance Academy Charter.
Varner’s Rams did just that, as Braxtyn Brown carried the ball eight times for 307 yards and four touchdowns – all in the first half – and CMVT used a 32-point second quarter to build a 52-8 halftime lead en route to a 58-22 win over the Knights.
“Our kids have been working hard, and our kids have a goal for this year,” said Varner. “We’re practicing with a purpose and playing with a purpose. Every week they have to show up. Next week is a big deal for us. Holy Cross beat us by one point last year and we dropped a two-point conversion in the end zone at the end of the game so we’re going to practice and come out next week with a purpose. We’re not satisfied at 3-1. We’re going to keep plugging away.”
The win improves the Rams to 3-1, which marks their first 3-1 start to a season since 2010. And while there’s still more than half of the season to go, with the numbers the Rams have been putting up in their first four games, perhaps one of those goals that Varner mentioned may be to finish with a winning record. CMVT last finished with a record over .500 in 2007, when several of the players on this year’s team weren’t even born.
Although his time on the field was relatively limited on Saturday compared to previous games this year, Brown still went for over 300 yards for the third time in four games this year. The reason he only had eight carries in the game was because the Rams built up an early lead so that he didn’t see any second half carries. In an omen of what was to come, Brown took the handoff on the first play of the game from scrimmage and burst up the middle and later down the left sideline for a 65-yard touchdown.
“Braxtyn is doing the little things well,” said Varner. “He’s letting his blockers set up, he’s hitting the holes and he’s making the right cuts and the right read at the right time and making some big gains, so he’s the type of back that gets better the more times you run him so we’re going to keep on running him for the rest of the year and ride his coattails.
Brown would add a 62-yard touchdown run later in the first quarter that capped a seven-play drive and put the Rams up 20-0. In between Brown’s first quarter touchdowns, Mason Haught also found the end zone on a one-yard run.
CMVT’s defense got into the act on the first play of the second quarter, when Tyler Bowling picked off Xaden Brown’s screen pass and took it back 35 yards for a touchdown, making it 28-0.
Brown then notched his third touchdown run over 60+ yards at the 9:30 mark of the second quarter, this one a 65-yarder.
Renaissance Academy would get on the board with a five-yard touchdown pass from Xaden Brown to Zion Christie, which capped a seven-play, 55-yard drive at the 5:21 mark of the second quarter. The Knights picked up chunk plays of 12, 16 and 20 yards on that drive.
But the Rams immediately answered as Myles Koser, back in at quarterback after missing last week with an injury and not starting on Saturday, hit Haught on a short crossing route, and Haught turned it into a 62-yard touchdown to put the Rams up 44-8.
Koser, who started CMVT’s first two games of the season before being injured in Week 2, was eased back into action as Charlie Sego started the game and completed 3-of-5 passes for 34 yards before Koser entered in the second quarter.
“We didn’t want to rush him back with it being his first game back and Charlie did a good job for us last week, but Myles did a great job and threw well, as did Charlie, so we have confidence in both guys out there,” said Varner.
Brown capped his afternoon with his longest run of the day, an 85-yarder for his fourth touchdown just before halftime to give the Rams a 52-8 lead.
“We wanted to make sure that we executed perfectly. We got our passing game going a little bit, we were on time, our runs were on time and that’s what you want to go through,” said Varner. “We got an early lead, got an interception returned for a touchdown by a defensive end and that gets everyone up, and that swung momentum again. You get that lead, get some young guys in and look forward to next week, which is a big week for us.”
With a running clock in the second half, there were only four total possessions, and three of them resulted in touchdowns – two for Renaissance Academy and one for the Rams. It was the other Brown – Tyson – who got in on the scoring action as he had a 14-yard touchdown run to cap a nine-play scoring drive.
Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 58, Renaissance Academy Charter 22
RAC (0-3) 0 8 6 8 – 22
CMVT (3-1) 20 32 0 6 – 58
First quarter
11:48 – (VT) Braxtyn Brown 65-yard run (pass failed), 1-65, :12
6:49 – (VT) Mason Haught 1-yard run (Sego run), 5-53, 2:18
1:35 – (VT) Braxtyn Brown 62-yard run (pass failed), 7-65, 3:10
Second quarter
11:52 – (VT) Tyler Bowling 35-yard interception return (Koser pass from Koser)
9:56 – (VT) Braxtyn Brown 65-yard run (Koser pass from Koser), 3-74, :26
5:21 – (RAC) Zion Christie 5-yard pass from Xaden Brown (Rittinger pass from Brown), 7-55, 4:09
5:05 – (VT) Mason Haught 62-yard pass from Myles Koser (Treon run), 1-62, :16
1:34 – (VT) Braxtyn Brown 85-yard run (Haught run), 1-85, :15
Third quarter
6:00 – (RAC) Janek Rittinger 15-yard pass from Xaden Brown (run failed), 6-65, 6:00
Fourth quarter
11:55 – (VT) Tyson Brown 14-yard run (run failed), 9-65, 6:05
4:30 – (RAC) Zaimier Covington 7-yard pass from Xaden Brown (Covington pass from Brown), 8-60, 7:25
Statistics
RAC VT
First downs 16 16
Rushes-net yards 15-89 26-393
Passing yardage 207 96
Passing 17-29-3-4 4-7-1-0
Fumbles-lost 2-0 2-0
Penalties-yards 7-55 5-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: RAC: Zaimier Covington (7-74), Donta’ Thorn (3-(-3)), Xaden Brown (3-(-23)), Zion Christie (2-41); CMVT: Braxtyn Brown (8-307-4), Elijah Treon (5-46), TEAM (5-(-8)), Mason Haught (3-12-1), Liam Bloom (2-11), Tyson Brown (1-14-1), Myles Koser (1-9), Charlie Sego (1-2)
PASSING: RAC: Xaden Brown (17-29-207-3-4); CMVT: Charlie Sego (3-5-34-0-0), Myles Koser (1-2-62-1-0)
RECEIVING: RAC: Zion Christie (8-111-1), Zaimier Covington (6-54-1), Janek Rittinger (2-21-1), Anthonio Nichols (1-31) ; CMVT: Mason Haught (1-62-1), Logan Bracey (1-16), Axton Koser (1-10), Blake Sponenberg (1-8)
