Class AAA No. 2 Indians Rolls Past Preston, 57-7, on Homecoming to Remain Undefeated at 8-0
By Chris Johnson on October 18, 2024
Class AAA No. 2 Bridgeport scored on all seven of its first-half possessions on its way to a 57-7 victory against Preston on Homecoming Friday night at Wayne Jamison Field.
The Indians, who improved to a perfect 8-0, entered the game leading the state in scoring at 56.9 points per game and were right on par with that, nearly accomplishing by halftime where they had a 50-0 lead which led to another game ending with a running clock in the second half.
Six of the seven touchdowns in the first half came on drives of five plays or less. For the season, Bridgeport has 44 scoring drives that have resulted in a touchdown in five plays or less.
The Indians are scoring often, scoring early and scoring quickly which is what coach Tyler Phares want to see from his single-wing attack.
“A lot of times it depends on the situation,” Phares said. “You might go in with a plan with what you want to run but there might be a quick three-and-out, there might be a turnover, something goes off script and you want to change it up but most of the time we have a general idea what we want to run to start a game.
“Our goal is to score and we don’t want to give the ball back to the other guys. We enjoy having the ball and we enjoy being aggressive.”
The Indians finished with 457 total yards against the Knights, including 398 on the ground. Josh Love finished with 105 yards on nine carries and a touchdown. Alex Moses had two carries for 80 yards and two touchdowns. Jack Spatafore had three rushing touchdowns to go along with 64 yards on eight carries.
The production didn’t slow down in the second half where Graham Vincent put up 84 yards on five carries and Landon Gillum had a rushing touchdown.
For the second time in as many weeks, the BHS defense forced some early turnovers which led directly to points.
Wes Brown recovered a fumble to end the Knights’ first drive. After a pickup of 18 by Love on the Indians’ first play from scrimmage, Spatafore went into the end zone with a 34-yard run and then threw a two-point conversion pass to Gavin Williams to make it 8-0 roughly one minute into the game.
Another Preston fumble gave the ball back to the Indians again right around midfield. Love had a huge run of 32 yards on fourth-and-1 to get it to the 11 where Sam Goodwin took it the rest of the way for his second touchdown run of the season. Williams booted his first of six PAT kicks to make it 15-0.
The Knights’ third possession didn’t end in a fumble but Bridgeport’s Donovan Williams returned a punt about 40 yards to set up the BHS offense at the 35. Spatafore completed a 25-yard pass to Cam Martin and one play later, Love scored on 10-yard TD run.
Preston quarterback Slaton Manko was kept in check for the most part by the BHS defense. He finished with just 18 yards rushing and completed 9-of-18 passes for 85 yards with an interception.
“I thought we did a good job against him,” Phares said. “We had some communication issues on a couple of plays but we got that cleaned up. The kids recognized it and fixed it.”
Spatafore would add first-half touchdown runs of 4 and 9 yards. Moses added touchdown runs of 51 yards and 28 yards.
Spatafore also completed all three of pass attempts for 59 yards. Martin finished with two receptions for 32 yards and Carter Zuliani had one for 27.
After a rare BHS turnover on its initial drive of the second half, Preston scored on an 8-yard touchdown run by Sheldon Miller as the Knights had their starters in against Bridgeport second- and third teamers.
Following an interception by Donte Pierre late in the game, Bridgeport added three forced turnovers to its total for the year and the Indians have a 22-3 advantage in turnover margin through eight games.
Gillum scored his first TD of the season on an 8-yard run and Jaylen Brown kicked his third PAT kick to make it 57-7.
The Indians will have a bye this coming week before closing out the regular season with a game at Fairmont Senior and a home game against Lincoln.
Editor's Note:Top photo of Love, middle photo of Spatafore and bottom photo of Moses by Joe LaRocca.
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