BY Brian Harmon
For the Examiner
MT. ORAB — Bellefontaine traded blows with Western Brown early, but the Chiefs were unable to withstand the onslaught of the Broncos’ explosive passing attack as the game progressed here Friday.
The 14th-seeded Chiefs led the sixth-seeded Broncos 20-14 after the first quarter of their Division III football quarterfinal.
However, Western Brown and its star quarterback Drew Novak dominated the scoreboard over the final three quarters to surge to a 50-20 victory.
“We went toe-to-toe with them and traded some scores, but in the end we just didn’t get enough plays made or get enough stops, and when momentum changed it was hard to get it to swing the other way,” said Bellefontaine head coach Jason Brown.
Bellefontaine leaned on its sophomore running back Chris Fogan all night, as he racked up 233 yards, 133 of which came in the first half.
But the margin of error was small against Western Brown and Novak.
Novak finished the night 28-of-40 for 330 yards passing and five touchdowns. He also rushed for 95 yards on 14 attempts.
Bellefontaine scored on the game’s opening offensive series with Fogan reaching the end zone on a 9-yard run. The extra-point attempt failed, as the Chiefs led 6-0 at the 9:12 mark of the first quarter.
The Broncos (10-2) answered with a scoring drive that was capped by a 4-yard run. The extra-point kick put the hosts up 7-6 at the 6:26 mark of the first stanza.
It only took the Chiefs just over a minute to respond. Fogan ripped off a 37-yard TD jaunt to push Bellefontaine up 12-7.
Novak followed with a 39-yard TD pass as the Broncos regained the lead at 14-12 with 2:52 left in the first period.
Bellefontaine and Fogan kept pace, with Fogan scoring his third touchdown of the opening quarter on a 24-yard run that gave the Chiefs a 20-14 lead.
Then, the Broncos were able to seize the momentum.
Novak threw touchdown passes of two and nine yards in the second quarter to give his team a 28-20 lead at halftime.
As the second half ensued, the Broncos were able to keep the Chiefs out of the scoring column, while adding three more scores of their own.
Statistically, the game was very close as the teams had a similar number of first downs and offensive yards, but the Broncos’ ability to stop the Chiefs when they had scoring opportunities was key.
Senior wide receiver Ethan Yoder finished the game with eight catches for 121 yards, and also finished as the Bellefontaine Chieftains’ all-time leading receiver for yards receiving in a season.
“Our seniors did a really great job of pulling us up and putting us back on the map football-wise here and we just have to continue to grow and build,” said Brown. “All of that hard work showed up in different places this season. I’m just really proud of these kids to get where we got this season.”
Tavien St. Clair was 12-of-28 passing for 159 yards for the Chiefs.
Bellefontaine tallied 394 yards of offense. The Broncos had 469 total yards.
The Chiefs, who won two games last year, enjoyed an impressive turnaround this fall with a 7-5 record. They advanced to the second round of the playoffs for just the fourth time in program history.
Western Brown will play second-seeded Jackson next Friday in the regional semifinals.