No. 6 Holy Family football overcomes slow start to beat No. 7 Berthoud
BROOMFIELD — Everything seemed to be going wrong on homecoming night for No. 6 Holy Family as it clung to a 20-14 lead over No. 7 Berthoud near the end of the first half.
Then quarterback Chris Helbig took over in the Class 3A Northern League matchup and became the Helbig we’ve seen all season.
On the last play of the half, the kicking team was sent out to attempt a field goal, but was waived off by Helbig. The 6-foot-4 senior then dropped back, avoided the Spartan rushers and threw a dime to wide receiver Bryce Buderus to give the Tigers a 28-14 lead going into the half.
“Obviously being the competitor I am, I wanna score a touchdown. A field goal just doesn’t satisfy me,” Helbig said. “I knew that there was just something about the atmosphere right there that we were gonna score a touchdown, there was no doubt in my mind.”
Locked in a dogfight in the second quarter, Helbig threw his lone interception and the Spartans returned the ball to the 11-yard-line. They promptly put the ball in the end zone with a Karsten Bump touchdown run.
Helbig and the Tigers came out with determination on their next possession as they drove down for the score after Helbig’s decision to call off the kicking team.
“It’s huge. We had 42 seconds left or whatever it was to score and the pass game — that hasn’t been a problem,” Helbig said. “We worked with the short time and that touchdown gave us so much momentum going into the half. We knew that it was our game when that happened.”
Halftime didn’t halt Holy Family’s momentum. On the second play of the half, Joe Golter picked off Cody Braesch and it was Holy Family ball at the 19. A Michael Zeman touchdown run on the next play made it 36-14 before Berthoud could blink.
It was a 16-point swing in about one minute of game-play.
From there, Holy Family’s offense kept rolling for a 56-14 win.
“We play our brand of football no matter what the officials do, or whatever else might happen,” said Holy Family coach Mike Gabriel.
Berthoud came into the game with a 5-0 record, outscoring opponents 165-21. They ran into a buzzsaw in Zeman and the Holy Family defense.
“Our defense has been being challenged all year. Everybody talks about everybody else’s offense versus our defense,” Gabriel said. “I think our kids got tired of it and wanted to send a message today.”
The Holy Family defense was able to keep the Tigers in the game while the offense got going. Four forced turnovers stopped any momentum Berthoud tried to grab. The Spartans were also shut out in the second half by the Tiger defense.
Zeman got it done in every facet of the game with 153 all-purpose yards, a receiving touchdown, a rushing touchdown, and an interception.
When asked about playing both sides of the ball, Zeman cracked a smile.
“It can be challenging, but when the adrenaline is going, you don’t really notice it,” he said. “You wanna be out there, and you wanna play.”
Golter added in 112 yards receiving and a touchdown, while Buderus had 135 yards for two touchdowns on just four catches.
It wasn’t pretty, but they got it done. The Tigers racked up a multitude of penalties and turned the ball over four times including three fumbles and an interception.
“That first half it felt like we were really beating ourselves and then we buckled down a little bit at halftime,” Gabriel said. “I think the extended time gave us some time to relax and get in the flow of the game.”
Helbig did his usual thing through it all to the tune of 500 yards and five touchdowns on 24-of-38 passing, with 24 yards and a touchdown rushing.
“We just have to have a short memory,” Helbig said. “We had to keep level-headed, and we knew that they couldn’t stop us, so as long as we kept driving the ball there was gonna be no problem.”
At times, he had flashes of Manziel and Wilson with his escapability. On the last drive of the second half, Helbig avoided Spartan defenders for a solid ten seconds on one play to find his brother, Kyle Helbig for a 45 yard gain.
“We teach sudden change and the kids adjusted and did a good job tonight,” Gabriel said.
Berthoud (5-1, 2-1 3A Northern) looks to rebound vs. No. 10 Mead (5-1, 2-1 3A Northern).
Holy Family improves to 5-1 (3-0 3A Northern) with a huge league matchup looming next week vs. No. 4 Roosevelt (5-1, 3-0 3A Northern). The winner controls their own destiny for the Northern League title.
