EAGLE — West Side was happy to be labeled an underdog.

The Pirates didn’t look the part Saturday.

After losing in the state semifinals and then graduating seven all-state players last year, it was easy to view 2019 as a rebuilding year for the perennial power. Instead, West Side rode one of the best defenses in Idaho all the way to the 2A state title, beating previously-undefeated McCall-Donnelly 14-13 at Eagle High for the school’s first championship since 2014.

“We all thought we were underdogs all year long, not just this game,” Pirates junior linebacker Taze Stegelmeier said, his face red from crying and his hands bloodied from a game’s work. “We all thought we were underdogs.”

West Side’s defense held 2A’s best offense to two touchdowns, and all but sealed the title with the game on the line.

Facing a 14-7 deficit late in the fourth quarter, McCall-Donnelly converted a fourth-and-goal from West Side’s 2-yard line to get within 14-13 with 1 minute, 22 seconds to play. With no timeouts left, the Vandals (11-1) sent their offense back on the field, setting up a do-or-die 2-point conversion.

Quarterback Peter Knudson took the snap and handed off to DJ Green on a sweep. Green tossed it to Noah Ormsby sweeping the opposite way, and Ormsby looked to throw the game-winner. The all-state wide receiver scrambled, couldn’t find anyone open and desperately flipped the ball to lineman Stevie Schirmeister, who was hit and taken down a few yards short of the end zone.

That got the celebration started, and West Side (11-1) secured the ensuing onside kick and kneeled twice to make it official.

A few minutes later, Pirates coach Tyson Moser sat on his players’ shoulders as they carried him off the field. West Side’s celebration with its cheering contingent lasted well after the trophy presentation and likely didn’t stop once it got back to Dayton.

“That was incredible,” Moser said. “McCall is a great team. This is the way a championship should be.”

McCall-Donnelly entered the game averaging 47.1 points and 468.5 yards per game. West Side recalibrated those numbers on Saturday, holding the Vandals to 13 points and 210 yards.

The Pirates were particularly stingy versus the pass, limiting Knudson to 4-of-13 passing for 51 yards. His No. 1 target, the 6-foot-2 Ormsby, caught one pass for 14 yards.

Ferocious defense has been West Side’s modus operandi all season. McCall-Donnelly was one of three teams this season to score double-digit points on the Pirates, and the Vandals’ 13 points actually made West Side’s points-allowed-per-game average worse.

McCall-Donnelly didn’t cross midfield until its fourth drive of the game and gained 20 yards or more on three of 49 plays.

“Our defense was amazing all season, especially our defensive line,” senior running back/linebacker Jaxon Moser said. “Nothing gets past us.”

The defense held up its end of the bargain, but the offense provided the fourth-quarter cushion – even if it took a trick play to do it.

With the score 7-7, West Side faced a third-and-11 from its own 8. Quarterback Ryan Beckstead threw a pass behind the line of scrimmage to Blaize Brown, who fired downfield for wide receiver Bryler Shurtliff. The sophomore wrestled the catch away from a Vandals defender and had just enough yardage to keep the drive going.

Shurtliff gained 28 more yards three plays later, juking his way to McCall-Donnelly’s 34-yard line after catching his fifth pass of the game. Cristian Plancarte took it from there on a handoff, making a few cuts to find open space, sprint to the end zone, and break a stalemate that stood for more than two quarters.

West Side’s second-half offense was stagnant until the double-pass caught the Vandals off guard. The straight-ahead handoffs to Jaxon Moser and Cage Brokens that worked in the first half were stuffed at the line, prompting the trickery.

“We’ve had a few things in the playbook that we’ve saved for moments like that,” coach Moser said. “Everything up the middle wasn’t working, so we thought we’d just try it now. You’re in the championship game, no reason to hold anything back.”

Plancarte’s score left 4:48 on the clock, and the Vandals used nearly all of it to work their way down the field. A 21-yard pass from Knudson to Tuff Bentz got McCall to the 5, and Bentz eventually punched in the 2-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal.

Bentz had most of the Vandals’ offensive success, rushing 15 times for 88 yards and two touchdowns. Knudson added 49 yards rushing on 15 carries, but West Side mostly bottled up the Vandals’ dual-threat signal caller.

Jaxon Moser led West Side’s offense, bulldozing his way to 108 yards on 15 rushing attempts. He was handed the ball on six consecutive plays in the second quarter and signaled “feed me” to the sidelines after busting off a 43-yarder.

Brokens added 15 yards on 12 carries and scored West Side’s first touchdown – a 3-yarder in the first quarter to give the Pirates a 7-0 lead.

Jaxon, coach Moser’s son, is one of nine seniors on West Side’s roster, and finally got to hoist the blue trophy after the Pirates lost in the state semifinals two years in a row.

Saturday’s championship was Moser’s third as West Side’s head coach.

“This has been the dream since we were little, first grade,” Jaxon said. “Who knew it would happen this year, with great teams (the) last (two) years? We just never knew it would happen our senior year. It just makes it that much better.”

Coach Moser said sharing a championship with his son is “priceless.” But Saturday was about more than that. The sophomores and juniors West Side leaned on all season stepped up on the big stage, where they had something to prove.

“It’s been the goal all year, and that’s what we wanted to do, so we went out and we did it,” Stegelmeier said. “A lot of people doubted us, but we came through and we did what they couldn’t.”

WEST SIDE 14, MCCALL-DONNELLY 13

West Side 7 0 0 7 – 14

McCall-Donnelly 0 7 0 6 – 13

Scoring summary

First quarter

WS – Brokens 3 run (Pascual kick), 3:55

Second quarter

MD – Bentz 12 run (Marin kick), 7:15

Fourth quarter

WS – Plancarte 34 run (Pascual kick), 6:48

MD – Bentz 2 run (pass failed), 1:22

Individual stats

Passing – West Side: Beckstead 6-12-79-0-2, Brown 2-2-30-0-0. McCall-Donnelly: Knudson 4-13-51-0-0, Ormsby 1-1-7-0-0.

Rushing – West Side: Brokens 12-15-1, Moser 15-108, Plancarte 3-34-1, Beckstead 3-5, Brown 1-10. McCall-Donnelly: Knudson 15-49, Bentz 15-88-2, Ormsby 2-12, Carr 1-3.

Receiving – West Side: Shurtliff 5-87, Plancarte 1-5, Brown 2-17. McCall-Donnelly: Ormsby 1-14, Hardy 2-3, Green 1-20, Bentz 1-21.