SUTTONS BAY -- It figures that a game involving Montague would have a tragic ending for Suttons Bay.
Ben Wood's 20-yard field goal with 28.1 seconds left was the difference as Montague beat the Norsemen 23-20 in Saturday's Division 6 district final.
The field goal -- the first of the season for the Wildcats -- came three plays after Suttons Bay senior Matt Pasch stripped A.J. LaRue of the football from behind after a 43-yard run to the Norse 8-yard line. Suttons Bay recovered the ball, but LaRue was ruled down by contact.
"Matt made a great play stripping the ball and they said he was down," Suttons Bay coach Joe Trudeau said. "(Otherwise) we're playing overtime and we have a chance."
Of course, there were differing views on whether the ball was out before LaRue was down.
Pasch said he was sure the ball was out first.
"Oh yeah," he said. "It was out right when I hit his arm. Kody Herman jumped on the ball and the ref said, 'Down, down, down.' I jumped up and said, 'No way.' "
"I know the kid made a great play on the tackle," Montague coach Pat Collins said. "If we had instant replay in high school, that would have been a tough call."
It was a tough way for Suttons Bay's season to end with a 9-2 record. Especially after the Norsemen responded to Dustin DeHoff's 3-yard touchdown run with 8:10 remaining. Wood's extra point kick missed the mark, but the Wildcats (8-3) held a 20-14 advantage.
Suttons Bay went 60 yards in 11 plays to answer with Anthony Stewart's 2-yard touchdown run with 3:09 to play. The Wildcats kept the game tied by blocking Jeff Lott's extra point kick.
The Norse twice converted on fourth downs on the drive. The first on a 25-yard pass from Pasch to Gabe Gallagher on fourth-and-9 and the second on a 13-yard pass from Pasch to Ryan Konieczka on fourth-and-3.
"I was so proud of the kids to come back with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter to tie the game," Trudeau said. "We converted on fourth down twice. They just did a good job making plays.
"Our kids played so hard, I can't fault them for anything. We missed a few plays here and there, but it's high school football. If you're only missing a few plays, you're doing pretty well."
But Suttons Bay may have left Montague too much time on the clock and the big run by LaRue set up Wood to make a field goal that was a little more than an extra point.
"We were fortunate with some things at the end," Collins said.
Suttons Bay struck first in the contest, scoring on its first possession.
Pasch hit Gallagher with a 9-yard touchdown pass and Lott kicked the extra point to make it 7-0. The play was set up by a 63-yard run by Stewart, who dropped the handoff and shook off a would-be tackler in the backfield before racing down the left sideline.
Montague scored on its next possession, getting a 28-yard touchdown pass from Cody Kater to Wood. The kick by Wood knotted the game at 7-7, which it stayed at through halftime. The game wasn't just knotted on the scoreboard either as each team had 142 yards of total offense in the first 24 minutes of play.
Each team scored on its first possession of the second half.
Suttons Bay again struck first, getting a 45-yard touchdown pass from Pasch to Kody Herman to go up 14-7 after Lott's extra point. Two plays later, Wood turned a 10-yard reception into a 67-yard scoring strike from Kater to knot the contest at 14.
That would set the stage for a back-and-forth fourth quarter that would end Suttons Bay's season with nine victories and a share of the Northwest Conference crown.
"The kids accomplished a lot, there's no doubt about that," Trudeau said. "I'm proud of how they played. They really gelled at the end of the year and played well.
"The finality is the hard part. There's no practice on Monday."
Pasch said Suttons Bay's undersized offensive line is what propelled the Norsemen over the second half of the season.
"Our running backs are bigger than our line," Pasch said. "Our three backs weigh more than three-quarters of our line. They just kept pushing and as they went, we went."
Stewart went through the Montague defense to finish with 164 yards on 28 carries and even completed two halfback passes for 36 yards. Pasch added 97 yards through the air.
Andrew Bumgardner and Anthony Hang led the Suttons Bay defense with 13 tackles apiece while Adam Krantz and Herman each had 11. Two of Krantz's tackles were sacks on the same series by the Wildcats, which will play Iron Mountain (10-1) in the regional final next week.
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