Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

LINDEN - One of the unfortunate themes for the Western Boone football team throughout the 2023 season was their inability to capitalize on their opportunities. That reared its ugly head again on Friday night in the sectional opener against North Montgomery. The Stars capitalized on just one of their four possessions inside North Montgomery territory, and the Chargers made enough big plays to win 20-7 in the sectional opener. "We had some chances, especially in the second quarter," Western Boone head coach Justin Pelley said. "Credit to North Montgomery, they are pretty good up front and they have some skill guys that hit us over the top a couple times. We just didn't have enough in the tank tonight." North Montgomery scored on its second possession of the game, going 82 yards on seven plays, scoring on a three-yard run. WeBo got the ball into Charger territory, but a fumble put them in third and long and they were forced to punt. The Chargers capitalized on their drive, scoring on a 13-yard pass on fourth and-6 from the WeBo 13 to go up 14-0 with 8:54 remaining in the half. The Stars, who were set to receive the second half kick off, seemed poised to get back into the game on their ensuing drive, getting inside the North Montgomery 30. But on a running play that would have gotten them inside the 20 they fumbled, giving the ball back to the Chargers, who then ate up most of the clock remaining in the second quarter. "That was a huge sequence, but we had a guy who is always on the field and eventually that takes its toll," Pelley said. "You see the difference there in Week 10. When you run those guys and run those guys, it can take its toll. It's not something he meant to do or was a lack of effort, it just happened." The Stars again drove deep into Charger territory to start the second half, but failed to convert on a fourth down at the North Montgomery 25. It appeared like the Stars reached past the line to gain for the first down, but the official ruled he stepped out of bounds before reaching out. Western Boone got the ball back after a three-and-out, and got on the board thanks to a 21-yard pass from Brandon Potter to Marcus Fortner on a fourth-and-6. The Stars again got a defensive stop, but couldn't get a drive going and were forced to punt the Chargers with nine minutes remaining. The Chargers were able to put the game away, going 59 yards in seven plays, scoring on a 34-yard half-back pass to go up 20-7. "That was tough," Pelley said. "One score we can handle being down with five minutes to go, two scores is a lot tougher. What they did really well today was ball control, and that's something they haven't really been able to do in the past, and what we try to do to people. They were able to control the football up and down the field. Eventually it's just attrition." Western Boone had just 135 yards of offense, including 59 on the ground on 27 carries. The Stars looked like they were heading in the right direction, especially in their running game after rushing for nearly 300 yards against Lebanon, but just could never get it going Friday. "It comes down to size up front," Pelley said. "They have some guys up front and we were trying to muster up a yard here or there. We have to be perfect with how we are built and the amount of two-way guys we have. We had to be perfect in everything and that is tough to do in high school football." The Stars finish the year 6-4. While the season ended earlier than they had hoped, Pelley said he is thankful for the commitment of the seniors and what they have done for the program. "The overachieved a little bit to be honest," Pelley said. "From day one, they come into it as a class of 10 seniors, and 17 seniors left so they had to fill a lot of spots. And they filled all of them on both sides of the ball. It was tough for us to get kids off the field this year and that means our younger guys have to get better and be ready to go. But the leadership of this senior class was great. If you would have told me three years ago that some of these seniors were going to be leaders, I would have questioned that a little bit because they were at a fork in the road. They could have gone one way, but they stayed with us and I'm glad they did. I hope our program did something for them and they remember that. They set tremendous examples for our younger kids and I hope the younger kids absorbed that." Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.