Bridgeport's Postseason Journey Begins with a Familiar Foe in Morgantown Tonight at Home
By Chris Johnson on November 12, 2021
Class AAA No. 3 Bridgeport’s 29th consecutive postseason journey begins tonight at Wayne Jamison Field as the Indians will battle No. 14 Morgantown in an opening-round game with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
With the school’s 13th ever perfect season in the rearview mirror following last Friday’s 38-7 win against Class AA No. 4 Lincoln, the Indians now turn their attention to the second season that comes with a lot higher stakes.
“One team is going home, one team’s season is ending,” BHS coach Tyler Phares said. “You are going to see teams play a little more desperate, they may take some chances that they haven’t taken in the past. You’ve got to make sure you are playing your best ball. Anybody can lose to anybody on Friday night especially the Top 16 teams in Class AAA West Virginia football, there aren’t a lot of bad teams out there.
“We got a tough draw with a very good football team that played us tough in the beginning of the year.”
The Mohigans enter tonight’s contest with a record of 5-5 and basically already having a playoff games as they had to win last week at Spring Mills to get in.
There’s little doubt Morgantown is a better team than the one Bridgeport saw in early Septemeber and there is even less doubt that the Indians have continued to improve since that 31-20 victory.
“We know they are a better team, we know we are better on defense,” Phares said. “It’s a team and a coach (Sean Biser) we are very familiar with. There are not going to be a lot of surprises but they are going to throw some new wrinkles at us and we have some to throw back at them.”
The biggest change the BHS defense will have to worry about is Jarrett Lawrence being the new starting quarterback. Lawrence is more of a running QB and Phares said his team will have to adjust a bit with how they defend the Mohigans.
In addition to Lawrence, tailback Peyton Johnson and fullback Chris Nutter are dangerous backs in the Morgantown’s wing-T attack.
Stopping the run though as been at the top of the list of strengths for the BHS defense. The Indians held the Mohigans to 176 yards on the ground in the first meeting and for the year are giving up an average of 71.3 per game.
Charlie Brazier leads the BHS defense in tackles with 58, Landyn Reppert has 52 tackles and Phil Reed adds 51.
Three other players have at least 30 tackles on the season in Aidan Paulsen with 49, Derek Starkey with 35 and Ryan Hall with 31.
As stingy as the Indians are against the run, they are equally prolific on offense, averaging 419.1 yards per game. Cam Cole and Reppert have both surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season — the eighth time in school history and first since 2015 that there have been two 1,000 yard rushers.
Cole has a team-high 1,228 on 110 carries with 10 touchdowns. Reppert has 1,017 yards on 114 attempts and 11 touchdowns. Six other players have at least 100 yards rushing this year and 10 other players have at least one rushing touchdown.
The Indians don’t throw the ball a ton but when they do, and Nate Lhotsky is on the receiving end, good things generally happen. Lhotsky now how seven career receptions and five of those have went for touchdowns including a 39-yarder from Reed last week against the Cougars.
Tickets for tonight’s game are being sold online only and are available to purchase HERE
Tonight’s game will be aired by the Indians Radio Network on WKMZ 103.3 as well as the Bridgeport Sports Radio App and can also be accessed at www.bridgeportindiansfootball.com
The Voice of the Indians, Travis Jones will be on play by play tonight with Chris George on color commentary and Brent Kimble on the sidelines.
The winner of tonight’s game will face either Jefferson or Hurricane in the quarterfinals.
Editor's Note: Top photo shows the BHS defense celebrating after Paulsen's third interception of the season, bottom two photos are of the Indians' 1,000 yard rushing duo of Cole and Reppert, respectively. Photos by Joe LaRocca.
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