Baxter football scores walk-off win over Montezuma

BAXTER — For the second straight season, the Baxter and Montezuma football game ended on the final play of the contest.

This time, the Bolts delivered in crunch time and took its first and only lead of the game when Treyton Travis grabbed a 12-yard touchdown pass from Perrin Sulzle as time expired on Friday night.

Travis’ career-best fifth TD grab of the night propelled the Bolts to a 52-46 non-district home win on Senior Night.

“It’s a non-district game, but it’s becoming a rivalry with Montezuma,” Baxter head football coach Rob Luther said. “They are an excellent program and we were pretty sore about last year’s loss. It didn’t take long for our kids to get motivated.”

Montezuma led 8-6 after one quarter, went in front 22-18 at halftime and took a 40-30 lead into the fourth. The Bolts outscored the Braves 22-6 in the final frame.

With the game tied at 46-all, Montezuma drove down to the Bolts’ 30-yard line. But, Travis snagged his sixth pick of the season on third and six to halt the drive.

After Sulzle gained several yards on the ground, Robinson took a screen pass for a big gain.

Baxter (5-2) eventually had first and goal from the 7-yard line but took a sack on third down.

The Bolts, on fourth and 12, called timeout with 2 seconds to play in regulation. That’s when Luther dialed up a play for Travis, who caught the 12-yard throw from Sulzle to win it.

“Treyton has great ball skills, and it’s hard to double in 8-man,” Luther said. “We look to him every time we need a play. He’s just been so steady this year.”

Sulzle had the best game of his prep career so far. He finished 22-of-42 through the air for 269 yards and he matched a career-high with six TD passes. He also threw one interception.

The junior quarterback ran for a career-high 167 yards and scored two more TDs on 30 carries.

Travis grabbed 12 passes for 194 yards and a career-high five touchdowns. He also gained 12 yards on his only run.

Robinson added 41 yards on 13 carries and hauled in four passes for 26 yards and a touchdown.

Cainan Travis ran for 13 yards on two carries and grabbed five passes for 31 yards. Stadan Vansice had two receptions for 18 yards.

Cael Wishman led the Bolts’ defense with 10.5 tackles and five tackles for loss. He ranks second in 8-man with 26.5 tackles for loss this fall.

Treyton Travis added nine tackles and one interception, Cody Samson registered eight tackles, Vansice and Jack Anderson each had six tackles and Cainan Travis collected five tackles and booted three touchbacks on kickoffs.

Aiden McFadden and Carter Smith secured 2.5 tackles each.

Treyton Travis’ pick was his sixth of the season, which ranks fourth in 8-man. Treyton Travis (60.5) and Samson (59.5) both rank in the top 10 for tackles.

Sulzle leads 8-man with 1,979 passing yards and 29 passing TDs, while Treyton Travis leads the class with 78 catches, 1,170 yards and 21 receiving TDs.

The 78 catches by Treyton Travis is a new school record. The previous benchmark was 69 set by Travis Lindemoen in 2017.

The Braves, who beat the Bolts on a last-second field goal last fall, were led by Brady Boulton’s 226 passing yards and four touchdowns. He ran for 73 yards on 13 carries.

Montezuma (4-4) also got six catches for 137 yards and two scores from Garrett Watts and Broox Stockman led the defense with 17 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss.