Pershing County goes back to basics, rallies past Mountain View for title

Mountain View had dominated Pershing County in the first half of Saturday's Class 2A state football championship game at Arbor View High School, but Saints coach Ray LeBoeuf was concerned.

Although his team led 12-0, LeBoeuf said he was worried about the success Pershing County had running the ball up the middle.

"I was afraid they were going to come out and run the same play over and over again," LeBoeuf said.

LeBoeuf's fears materialized in the second half in the form of Mustangs running back Jared Jensen. The sophomore rumbled for 153 second-half yards, two touchdowns and a critical 2-point conversion as Pershing County rallied for a 14-12 victory.

"That's what Pershing does," said LeBoeuf, whose team was outgained 184 to 59 yards in the second half. "And that was just their size advantage."

Jensen, who finished with 207 yards on 35 carries, said there was no fiery halftime speech that turned things around for his team.

"We kept hearing we just need to do our basics," Jensen said. "We were just told to get more aggressive and play Mustang football."

Pershing County (8-4) turned the game around on an eight-play, 69-yard scoring drive midway through the third quarter, capped by a 1-yard TD run by Jensen.

"We just started building momentum on (that) drive. And we just got stronger as the game went on," said Jensen, who also added the 2-point conversion run to cut Mountain View's lead to 12-8.

After Mountain View (7-6) went three-and-out on the ensuing drive, Jensen powered Pershing County to another scoring drive. His 24-yard sprint to the 3-yard line set up his go-ahead TD run that put his team ahead for the first time, 14-12, with 11:32 remaining.

"My line, they we just pushing it so hard up front tonight. I have to credit them for every yard I got tonight," Jensen said.

Jensen came into the game with 975 rushing yards for the season. He had never run for 200 yards in a game.

"We did a few things to try and slow them down later in the second half," LeBoeuf said. "But, offensively, we couldn't put anything on the board."

Mountain View had a chance to retake the lead with 5:27 left on a 28-yard field goal try. But Matthew Larson's kick bounded off a lineman, and Pershing County's Andrew Skeen scooped up the loose ball and rumbled to the Saints' 35-yard line.

"I made the decision to kick the field goal there thinking if we could get back in front, we may need just one more stop and that would be it," LeBoeuf said. "But the kick was a little bit low, and then our kids didn't realize that a block can turn into a runback, so that changed some field possession as well."

Mountain View had only one more possession after the blocked kick, gaining only 5 yards, and Pershing County ran out the clock to clinch the state title for the Lovelock-based school.

The Saints seized the early lead as quarterback T.J. Engel hit Trevor Van Kempen over the middle with a 19-yard touchdown pass to make the score 6-0 with 5:33 left in the first quarter.

After Pershing County turned the ball over on downs following a long second-quarter drive, Mountain View struck again on the next play.

Justyn Anderson took a handoff on an end-around play and bolted 73 yards down the left sideline to push the lead to 12-0.

The Saints' defense, buoyed by Charles Emil's two key sacks that stopped Pershing County drives, limited the Mustangs to fewer than 60 yards in the first half.

But Mountain View failed to add to its lead, thanks in part to two second-quarter turnovers, setting up Pershing County's second-half rally.

"I'm extremely proud of my team," LeBoeuf said. "They battled hard to the very end."