Fort Hill Holds off Bridgeport, 43-42, in Instant Classic
By Michael Minnich on October 02, 2026
Fort Hill scored a 2-point conversion with under a minute to go and Bridgeport missed a field goal on the final snap of the game as the Sentinels pulled out a 43-42 thriller at Greenway Avenue Stadium.
"A really good high school football game," Bridgeport coach Tyler Phares said. "Both teams played tremendously. We got a nice lead on them there and they fought back and kind of shell-shocked our kids a bit, for sure."
Gabe Martin rushed for 158 yards and 3 touchdowns and Gavin Williams rushed for 197 yards and 2 scores for Bridgeport.
For Fort Hill, Carson Bender rushed for 167 yards and two touchdowns and caught a 67-yard TD pass and Neek Taylor also found the end zone twice.
Bridgeport received the opening kickoff, got an excellent return from Max Conley, started at the Fort Hill 45 and scored six plays later on a 15-yard Gabe Martin rush.
Jaylen Brown’s kick was good to give the Tribe a 7-0 edge with 8:31 left in the first quarter.
Fort Hill moved the chains once but were stopped on fourth down to turn it over on downs.
Martin ripped off 31 yards on second down to the Fort Hill 4 and Gavin Williams finished from there: 14-0 with exactly 5 minutes left in the first quarter.
Fort Hill, though, picked up a third-and-20 on a 37-yard screen pass from Brady O’Neal to Neek Taylor.
A 20-yard pass combination between the two advanced the ball to the BHS 3 and Carson Bender cashed in the pigskin with 9:55 left in the second quarter.
The kick was good to halve the lead to 14-7.
Martin’s 26-yard rush moved the ball past midfield.
Three plays later, Martin squirted through the line for a 45-yard touchdown rush, restoring the 14-point lead, 21-7, with 8:24 to go in the half.
A 17-yard completion to Channing Logsdon set up a 60-yard Bender rush down to the Bridgeport 2 and Bender finished from there.
Bridgeport led, 21-14, with 6:52 left in the half.
Fort Hill forced a three-and-out, aided by a Bridgeport fumble on third down, and started from their own 43.
But a hold and a Bridgeport blitz brought up second-and-33 and eventually a punt.
It looked like the Tribe might just run out the half as Fort Hill did not use any timeouts, but Williams had other ideas, going 61 yards to the house.
Brown’s boot made it 28-14 with 18 seconds left in the second quarter.
But Fort Hill scored on the opening possession of the third quarter on a 11-yard Taylor rush to close within seven at 28-21.
Bridgeport drove across midfield but was stopped on fourth-and-1 to turn it over on downs.
Fort Hill got a 50-yard pass on a broken play from Taylor to Levi House, then, after a 16-yard Taylor run, Isaiah Welsh then scored from 6 yards away and Bobby Brauer added the tying PAT: 28-all, 2:01 left in the third quarter.
"They were probably the more physical team as that game went on and that's a big takeaway here," Phares said. "They played hard and won the line of scrimmage."
Williams had runs of 12 and 23 on the next drive, the latter to set up a 1-yard Eli Knight TD to restore a 35-28 Bridgeport lead with 7:36 to go.
Fort Hill answered as O’Neil floated a perfect ball down the left sideline to Bender, who weaved his way in from 78 yards away: 35-35, 6:34 left.
Vincent connected with Max Conley on a pass for 29 yards to the Fort Hill 34, then Williams darted for 26 more to the Sentinels 8.
Two plays later, Martin was home from 5 out: 42-35 with 3:57 left.
Started by a 21-yard Logsdon run and a 24-yard Bender run, Fort Hill moved into Bridgeport territory.
A few runs plus two flags put the ball at the Bridgeport 6 with 57 seconds left.
Taylor scored from there with 51 seconds left and Fort Hill took a timeout to decide: Kick for the tie or go for the win?
Fort Hill lined up for the 2-point conversation and it was Tyler Phares’ turn to take a timeout on defense.
Taylor came good on a toss to the left: 43-42.
Bridgeport started from its 31 and tried the home run ball to Williams on first down, but it was just out of reach.
Second down, same idea, same result, but Williams was shaken up this time.
Bridgeport threw again on third down but got a gift thanks to a late hit after the pass had already hit the ground.
Williams, back on the field, caught a 22-yard pass from Vincent.
Bridgeport ran Martin down to the 28 and used their final timeout with 13 seconds left.
A shot to the end zone for Williams was knocked down with 8 seconds left, then the next pass was incomplete.
On stepped Brown for the 44-yard field goal attempt, but Fort Hill was offside at the snap.
Okay: Brown from 39.
No good: Fort Hill survives to move to 4-0, while Bridgeport is 4-2 with Spring Valley up next at home.
"It's time to see who the leaders of the team are," Phares said. "When you have a game like that, you get finger-pointing, you get some kids that are upset with each other. We're going to see the temperature of the team on Monday. We'll see who wants to grow and become a better football player.
"There's no time to sulk. We've got another good footbal team coming in here next Friday. We're going to have to get over those bumps and bruises and get ready to play with another good team."
