Horseshoe Bend breaks Mullan

HORSESHOE BEND, Idaho – Mullan’s long road into the State 1A Division II football semifinals ended on the fast track Saturday.

Horseshoe Bend scored five first-half rushing touchdowns to fuel a 50-0 victory in a game ended with about 5 minutes left in the third quarter because of the 45-point mercy rule.

“We had a lot of mental errors and there were fundamentals we didn’t perform today,” Mullan coach Bruce Bailey said.

The Tigers (7-3) were handed a third-place trophy after the loss. Defending state champion Horseshoe Bend (9-2) advances to the title game to face the Mackay Miners for the second consecutive season. The Mustangs beat the Miners 42-14 in Pocatello a year ago.

After a short first possession, Horseshoe Bend seemed to be in top form, rolling up 286 rushing yards.

“We came out and had a good stop right away on defense,” Bailey said. “I thought we had a little momentum, and I thought we might have gotten the jitters over with.”

Horseshoe Bend, which has made its living stopping teams with the 45-point rule this season while rolling up seven shutouts, needed just two plays to grab the lead. After Mullan saw its first drive stall after 12 plays at the Horseshoe Bend 23-yard line, Mustangs quarterback Matt Osorio raced up the middle of the field for a 58-yard touchdown.

Mullan’s first possession was its longest of the day. The Tigers punted three times and turned over the ball three times, picking up only 49 yards in total offense and three first downs.

Early in the second quarter – one play after a short punt by Mullan’s Jesse James – the Mustangs’ Nathan Shepherd stole away with a 46-yard TD run.

That was the beginning of the end for the Tigers, whose defenders were unable to put solid tackles on either Shepherd or Osorio throughout the game. Osorio racked up 142 yards on six carries and Shepherd had 119 yards on 15 carries.

“We did have a lot of missed tackles and arm tackling,” Bailey said. “When you’re in the state semifinals, you can’t arm tackle.” The Mustangs scored four TDs in the second quarter, including Osorio’s 35-yard scamper down the far sideline after taking a cross-field lateral pass from Shepherd with 1:19 left in the first half.

Shepherd ran through three arm tackles for a 15-yard run that established a 32-0 halftime score four plays later.

Things didn’t improve in the second half for the Tigers.

On the second play, Seth Gray fumbled while running a reverse. He tried to pick up the football twice but kicked it backward both times. Horseshoe Bend defensive lineman Cole Hamley screened Gray off the ball and covered it in the end zone for a TD.

“Being down like that (32-0) after traveling this far and working so hard, they were a little frustrated,” Bailey said of Mullan’s second-half entrance.

Horseshoe Bend scored three TDs in 7 minutes to end the game.

“We came a long way and went up against a good team,” Bailey said.