Bridgeport’s game plan on the defensive side of the ball hasn’t changed for decades. Whether the coach’s last name was Jamison, Carey or Nicewarner, the key has always been to make the opponent one dimensional and put the odds in your favor.

 

Less than a month ago – on Oct. 30 to be exact – Bridgeport was able to do that in what turned out to be a 35-0 win against Fairmont Senior at Wayne Jamison Field. And they did that by making Fairmont Senior become completely one dimensional.

 

Whether that same method comes to play and works this evening remains to be seen. However, the answer will come later tonight as Coach Josh Nicewarner’s 11-0-1 Indians and the 10-2 Polar Bears meet once again at Jamison Field in the Class AA semifinals with kickoff at 7:30 p.m.

 

This time, the implications go beyond pride. This time, the winner earns a berth into the Class AA state title contest.

 

In the last game between the two, Bridgeport completely shut down the Fairmont running game worse than any foe this entire season. The Tribe allowed minus-38 yards rushing; a total that included six tackles for loss and a quarterback sack. Even better for the BHS defense is that the Tribe allowed just 29 yards of offense in the second half in making Fairmont have just one effective tool in the offensive tool chest.

 

“We obviously did a good job shutting down the run, but when you get it’s more important to make a team one-dimensional if you can get them where they’re behind by a few scores and you know they have to throw,” said Nicewarner. “When you have the threat of run and pass throughout the game, with this Fairmont team, that one dimension of passing that people talk about is a problem for the opponent and their ground game when going isn’t too bad either.”

 

Nicewarner is correct about the passing dimension for Fairmont – in particular against Bridgeport during the regular season. The Bears managed to pile up 258 yards passing, a season-high against Bridgeport, in the setback by talented quarterback Dom Smith.

 

Bridgeport negated that by forcing turnovers and, more importantly, forcing turnovers in the red zone and inside its own territory – all three in the first half – against Fairmont. The miscues spelled doom for the visitors and allowed the Tribe to roll to the win.

 

“You look at that score of 35 -0 and think it’s a wash. I have some no problem saying they left 14 points on the field and, quite frankly, maybe 21. You throw those points up early and who knows what you’ve got. Because of that, we’re treating this as a clean slate against a team we know can beat us and has the weapons to beat us,” said Nicewarner.

 

Smith and the Polar Bears haven’t shied away from their passing attack since then. And you can ask a talented Keyser team about that. Last week, in FSHS’s 58-42 Class AA quarterfinal win over the Golden Tornado at East-West Stadium, Smith was 28-of-30 for 421 yards, six touchdowns and one interception.

 

Fairmont nearly had three receivers in double figures. Nick Davisson led the way with seven catches for 131 yards, while Bryson Gilbert had five catches for 106 yards and Joseph Leon just missed the century mark with seven receptions for 99 yards.

 

For the season, Smith has completed 192-of-324 passes for 3048 yards (254 yards per game) with 34 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Davisson is the top target with 53 catches for 902 yards and 15 scores. Leon is next with 47 catches for 706 yards and seven touchdowns. Three other receivers have caught more than 400 yards in passes this year.

 

Gilbert is the Polar Bears’ leading rusher. He has 1,135 yards on 118 carries (9.2 yards per carry) and 12 touchdowns.

 

Looking to keep things in Bridgeport’s favor on defense will be a unit led by junior linebacker Mackenzie Holmes. Holmes continues to lead the team in tackles with 65 on the year. Drummond is next with 56, while Bonamico and lineman Noah Markley are next with 56 and 50 stops, respectively. Seth Friel, with 45, and Hunter Haddix with 40 tackles, are also integral parts of Bridgeport’s defensive attack.

 

Fairmont’s defense knows what it will have to deal with and that’s Bridgeport’s running game. A week after allowing Keyser to rush for 393 yards, they’ll face a Tribe team that ran against them 47 times for 324 yards in the opening game.

 

Incredibly, Dylan Tonkery and Dante Bonamico have the exact same amount of yards on the year. Both back have 1,279 yards – Tonkery on 120 carries (10.7 yards per carry) and Bonamico on 121 carries (10.6 yards per carry). Bonamico has the touchdown advantage of 25 scores to 16 for Tonkery.

 

To compound problems for foes in recent weeks as Tonkery recovered from an ankle injury suffered in the Fairmont Senior regular season game, quarterback Zack Spurlock became an even bigger running threat and upback Elijah Drummond moved up quite nicely to fullback. Spurlock now has 596 yards on 76 carries (7.8 yards per carry) with 13 scores, while Drummond has 313 yards on just 31 carries (10.1 yards per carry) and five touchdowns.

 

Nicewarner said that while Bridgeport’s offense is considered one dimensional, it has a different ring to it. And he said the fact that teams are aware of what he explains below had a benefit in last week’s 41-13 win over Robert C. Byrd.

 

“Offensively, we do have a simple formula. I say we’re a one-dimensional team that’s not really a one-dimensional team. We have the ability to throw it and I’m sure Fairmont knows that. All the teams we’ve played this year know it,” said Nicewarner. “If a team is overly aggressive we won’t hesitate to use a play-action pass to Mackenzie or anyone else. I can tell you that the threat of that helped us against RCB because they had a couple of guys playing a little looser than we would normally see so we didn’t go to it as much. Whether a team allows us to pass or respects the possibility of our pass makes us feel good either way.”

 

As for the health of the team, the Indians will be without Nick Muller and Jacob Griffith. Both players are lost for the year due to injuries. The rest of the squad, including Tonkery, should be at or near 100 percent, Nicewarner said.

 

The game will be aired on 103.3 WAJR FM with Travis Jones (who tracked down the Fairmont Senior statistics) doing the play by play and Ryan Nicewarner (who provided the BHS statistics for this preview) doing the color commentary. The pre-game radio show begins at 7 p.m. Barring a lack of Wi-Fi service, in-game updates via Twitter – by going to @connectBP – will be posted by Connect-Bridgeport.

 

The winner of tonight’s game will play next Friday for the Class AA state title at Wheeling Island Stadium at 7:30 p.m. They will face off against the winner of this evening’s ‘AA’ semifinal that pits homestanding No. 3 Tolsia against No. 7 Mingo Central.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows quarterback Zack Spurlock congratulating teammates after a score in last week's RCB game, while the second photo is of Fairmont QB Dom Smith looking to pass against the Indians in the regular season affair. The Indians hope to put pressure on Smith, as Seth Friel does in the third photo, when the teams meet up tonight. Coach Josh Nicewarner is shown in the fourth photo, while defensive back hauls in an interception in the first game between the two teams earlier this year. All photos by www.benqueenphotography.com.