Mother Nature was busy postponing, cancelling and delaying high school games statewide tonight. In Bridgeport, the weather wasn’t a problem for East Fairmont. The Indians, however, were.

 

The Tribe made up for what Mother Nature failed to produce as their defense provided the thunder and the offense the lightning in what turned into a 48-0 hammering of the Bees at Wayne Jamison Field.

 

With the victory, Bridgeport is now 3-0 on the year. The Bees dropped to 0-3.

 

Just how dominant was the defense?

 

East Fairmont didn’t get a first down until 5:10 was showing in the third quarter. In fact, Bridgeport ended the game with almost as many points as East Side had yards.

 

The Bees finished with 66 yards. Almost all of it came from that initial first down play forward as the Indians’ went totally with their reserves at that point of the contest.

 

“The defense came to play,” said BHS Coach John Cole. “They were aggressive right off the bat. I think athlete wise we were a little better and probably a little stronger on the line. The defense didn’t give them much room to breathe.”

 

If they defense was suffocating, then the offense forced the Bees to tap out. By game’s end, Bridgeport had amassed 455 yards of offense with 434 yards of it coming on the ground on 46 carries for an average of 9.4 yards on every run.

 

Cole, while pleased, didn’t have the same level of praise for the offensive unit. Most of his concern was early in the contest.

 

“Offense is a little different story. I thought East Fairmont played well on defense in the first quarter. We had to make a couple of minor adjustments that I wasn’t real happy about, but we did and the line started doing what they’re supposed to do and the backs started hitting holes the way they were supposed to and things started churning,” said Cole.

 

The churning offense saw Jake Bowen amass 101 yards on 10 carries and a score to lead the way. Brian Henderson added a career high total of 98 yards on seven carries with a score, while D'Andre Holloway finished with 70 yards on seven runs and two touchdowns.

 

That group helped put Bridgeport in position to close the game early. The Tribe would get all the points they needed in a somewhat sluggish first quarter by comparison and it was all but officially over when the halftime horn sounded.

 

Don't believe it?

 

The fact that until the final play of the first half Bridgeport had more touchdowns than the Bees had yards said plenty about why the score was 27-0 at the intermission. Incredibly, the Bees had just seven yards of offense and that only came about thanks to a 9-yard-run by Grant Postlethwait as the first half came to a close.

 

About the only victory the Bees could muster was the coin toss. And after electing to receive, the only thing that went into their favor were penalties against the Indians.

 

The Bees took possession and three plays later were lined up in punt formation. It would be a formation the visitors would become all too familiar with as the Bees couldn’t muster a first down in the first 24 minutes of play.

 

Bridgeport, on the other hand, had little trouble moving the ball. In fact, by the time the first half ended BHS had 275 yards of offense and that came despite a bevy of penalties on the offense and on the special teams.

 

Despite the miscues, the Indians scored on their first four drives of the game to take command. The first drive covered 10 plays and 75 yards and ended when Hollaway rambled in from one yard out for a 6-0 lead after the point-after kick with 5:17 showing was off the mark. Holloway closed the drive with three straight carries, including a 30-yarder to put the Tribe at the East Side doorstep.

 

When Bridgeport got the ball back it would need seven plays to score. Jake Bowen would do the honors to cap a second-straight 75-yard drive. On the first play of the second quarter Bowen busted loose from 37 yards out. Evan Ogden then hit the first of three straight point-after kicks in the first half to make it 13-0 with 11:50 showing.

 

The next drive also would require seven plays, but covered 62 yards. Quarterback Devin Vandergrift faked the handoff to Bowen and the play action froze the East Fairmont linebackers. Vandergrift darted to his left and found little resistance as he raced 15 yards for the score that put the hosts up 20-0 with 6:17 to play.

 

Bridgeport’s final first half score came with three minutes showing on the second quarter clock. A short field set up by a 30-yard punt return by Hollaway ended with him doing the scoring honors from nine yards out and the 27-point halftime advantage.

 

Bowen and Holloway got all of their yards in the first half as they didn't run in the final two periods. Vandergrift, who had three carries for 35 yards at halftime, also didn't run in the final two quarters.

 

"We've got a really tough run really the rest of the year coming up. We're probably going to need those guys," said Cole. "I don't think Jake with the competition we're going to be playing against the rest of the year is going to be able to get 30-some carries."

 

As for a problem, Cole was uneasy with the penalties. Two big punt returns were negated and several offensive series proved to be extended due to flags on the field.

 

"It was," said Cole when asked if the penalties were frustrating. "Some of them I don't know about, but we lined up offside once, we have movement and we haven't really dealt with a whole lot of that. That's not good. We don't want to go backwards like that."

 

In the second half, the Indians got things going on the first drive. With a bevy of the starters still in the game, Henderson led a five-play, 80-yard drive that he started with a 34-yard run and ended with a 33-yard scoring jaunt for the 34-0 score with 9:50 in the third.

 

BHS got its next two scores set up by the defense forcing turnovers. Two plays after Henderson scored, Carson DeMotto recovered an East Fairmont fumble and Bridgeport was back in business.

 

It would take the Tribe five plays to score after DeMotto's recovery at the EFHS 42. Austin Gibson did the honors with a 15-yard run where he showed some nifty footwork to get free and put Bridgeport up 42-0.

 

Aidan Gibson scored the final points for Bridgeport. He was able to score from two yards out with 2:41 to play in a fourth quarter that was only eight minutes long and featured a running clock due to the size of the deficit. 

 

Bridgeport got the ball back to set up the score by thwarting East Fairmont's only deep scoring threat. Owen Bennington intercepted a pass and returned it near midfield to allow the Indians to score one final time.

 

For the game, the kicking team of Ogden and Austin Springer late, would finish 6-of-7 on extra points.

 

The contest concludes Bridgeport's season-opening three-game home stand. BHS will be on the road next week and things are likely to be more intense with a visit to East-West Stadium to battle Class AA top-ranked Fairmont Senior. The Polar Bears topped North Marion by a 43-12 score.

 

Bridgeport's game with the Polar Bears will be on Thursday night. The game will be televised live on AT&T SportsNet and streamed on MetroNews.

 

East Fairmont will be at home Friday at East-West Stadium. The Bees will battle county foe North Marion.

 

Editor's Note: Photos by Ben Queen of www.benqueenphotography.com.