Minutes after the game against Fairmont Senior this evening, Bridgeport Coach John Cole talked about the “athletes over there” and for many instances his team’s inability to contain them. And in most of those instances, it meant Polar Bears junior quarterback Gage Michael

 

Michael proved to be a one-man wrecking crew in leading Class AA top-ranked Fairmont Senior to a 34-15 win over No. 2 Bridgeport at Wayne Jamison Field. With the victory, FSHS is now 4-0. The Indians fall to 3-1.

 

How dominant was Michael?

 

He accounted for 403 yards of offense on his own. As a team, the Polar Bears finished with 402 yards meaning the rest of the team finished with minus-1 yards.

 

Michael finished with 15 carries for 281 yards rushing and three touchdowns. He finished 5-for-12 passing for 122 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

 

“It looked like we were grabbing at him,” said Cole. “You can’t do that when you’ve got an athlete like that. You can’t do that at all. That was pretty much the story there.”

 

It was not just obvious, but blatantly obvious, Bridgeport didn’t have an answer for Michael early on. Michael managed to have a solid game stat line after four plays that resulted in three touchdowns.

 

A preview of what was to come came early after the Fairmont Senior defense force a quick three-and-out on the Tribe’s first possession. And it came after BHS flipped the field with an excellent punt by Sam Romano put the visitors at their own 10-yard line.

 

The Bears started their first drive lined up in a four-wide set. Michael took the snap and the problems began. The quarterback not only went 90 yards for the score but was untouched on the play.

 

Bridgeport did manage to stop a two-point conversion, but Fairmont Senior was up 6-0 with 10:19 showing on the first quarter clock.

 

Unfortunately for Bridgeport, the next two series were a case of déjà vu. Fairmont forced a three-and-out and would take over. The only difference was the Bears started their second drive at their own 46.

 

Lining up in the same formation, Michael took the snap and this time went 54 yards – once again untouched – for a second score. Frankie Smith hit the first of two first half point-after kicks and four for the game to make it 13-0 with 7:52 to play after two offensive plays.

 

“You give up two quick scores there on a play that should be fairly easy to defend. They have an athlete, but we were really disappointed,” said Cole on the two quarterback isolation plays. “You put yourself in a hole like that … When you can’t get off blocks, and you have to worry about those things and do things you don’t normally do against athletes like that, you’re behind the eight ball a little bit.”

 

Bridgeport, after netting just three total yards on its first two series, suddenly found life on its third one. After looking lethargic, Bridgeport’s offense woke up and went to work.

 

Starting at their own 29, Bridgeport would use a 15-play drive that ate up more than half of the quarter to go 71 yards. The drive had just one run of 10 yards and featured the Indians grinding it out.

 

Brian Henderson capped it for Bridgeport with a three-yard run for the home team’s first touchdown. Unfortunately, center Peyton Henderson was injured on the play and the point-after would hit the upright leading to a 13-6 score with 9.3 seconds showing on the first period clock.

 

It marked the second game this year where BHS found itself down two scores – the previous outing against Morgantown – before waking up offensively. When asked about the issue, Cole had a quick answer.

 

“I don’t know. If I knew that I wouldn’t be sitting here. I’d probably be a millionaire,” said Cole.

 

The good news for BHS on the next Fairmont Senior offensive series was that the Tribe managed to stop Michael on first down for an 8-yard game. The bad news was he would burn Bridgeport with his arm on the very next play.

 

Michael threw a dart for a 64-yard touchdown pass to Kayson Nealy. Nealy ran a go route down the right sideline and it left the guests up 20-6 on the first play of the second quarter. The score came with 11:51 showing before halftime.

 

Bridgeport appeared ready to put together another long and sustained drive. Starting at their own 20, the Indians got into Fairmont territory before the game’s first turnover came. A fumble on the 12^th play of the drive was recovered by Fairmont Senior at its own 34.

 

The Tribe managed to force a three-and-out and get the ball back with 5:15 to go before halftime. After J.R. Coburn partially blocked the punt, Bridgeport started at its own 49 and – once again – began to move the ball.

 

Bridgeport got to the Polar Bears’ 11-yard line, but a fumble on the snap put BHS in a fourth down and needing nine yards, BHS brought in Austin Springer and he calmly nailed a 30-yard field goal for what would end up being the half’s final points at 20-9. The kick came at the 1:11 mark before halftime.

 

Amazingly, Fairmont Senior had just 10 plays in the first half. However, the Bears made the most of them with 153 yards rushing on six carries and 68 yards passing on two completions for 221 yards of offense. Michael had all six carries for 153 yards.

 

BHS finished the half with 156 yards of offense with 119 on the ground.  Trey Pancake led the way with 10 carries for 50 yards.

 

In the second half, Michael would pick up where he left off and put Bridgeport in a hole that seemed too big to come out of it. On their second series of the second half and on second down, Michael kept the ball and raced 43 yards for six and another Smith kick made it 27-9.

 

Bridgeport would add another score to keep its hopes alive in the third period. It came after forcing Fairmont Senior to punt from its own 9-yard line.

 

Sam Romano, who had a strong game punting and returning punts, hauled it in at the FSHS 43 and returned it to the 19. Five plays later, Devin Vandergrift would keep from five yards out on a bootleg and go in untouched for six.

 

It would be Bridgeport’s final points. The two-point conversion would fail leaving it 27-15 with 24.4 seconds to go in the third period.

 

Fairmont’s final score came early in the fourth. Michael scored once again via the pass and on another go route down the right sideline. This one was for 41 yards and Camden Longwell did the honors for the game’s final touchdown. The point-after by Smith at the 10:09 mark was the final point of the contest.

 

“We didn’t give up and I liked the effort we had,” said Cole.

 

Bridgeport would finish with 249 yards of offense. Of that total, 212 came on the ground on 56 carries. Henderson led the way with 18 carries for 75 yards, while J.D. Love had 14 carries for 67 yards and Pancake added 15 runs for 66 yards.

 

“On the positive side, we line up and went right at them and got yards, more so than we have against other teams this year,” said Cole.

 

Bridgeport will return to action next week and things won’t get easier. The Tribe will visit Robert C. Byrd in Clarksburg for a 7 p.m. contest.

 

Fairmont Senior will be on the road next week. The Polar Bears Friday game is in Morgantown against Class AAA University. That game will begin at 7:30 p.m.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Gage Michael going in for one of his three rushing touchdowns, while the offensive line that finally got going later in the game is shown in the second photo. In the third photo, Devin Vandergrift winds up to pass for the Tribe and in the fourth photo Brian Henderson looks for a hole to run through. Austin Springer gets ready to connect on his 30-yard field goal in the fifth picture, while Sam Romano celebrates hauling in a 37-yard pass in the second quarter in the next photo. In the photo after that, Bridgeport's Devin Hill (68) and J.R. Coburn (55) go after Fairmont Senior standout Zach Frazier. The final shows J.D. Love looking for room to run against the Bears. Photos are by Ben Queen and Joey Signorelli of www.benqueenphotography.com.