The Class AAA quarterfinal playoff game between No. 3 Bridgeport and No. 6 Jefferson didn’t take long to become one where it came down to if the Indians could stop the Cougars’ passing attack and if the Cougars could slow down the Indians on the ground.

 

Defensive stops were few and far between but Bridgeport had a couple more than Jefferson in a wild 74-49 victory for the Indians, who remain unbeaten at 12-0 and advance to next week’s semifinals to face Martinsburg. Time and date for all semifinal games will be finalized on Sunday morning.

 

The Cougars end their season at 10-2.

 

The game featured at least seven new or tied Class AAA preliminary round records.

 

Bridgeport set new marks for most rushing touchdowns with 10, most rushing attempts with 69, most rushing yards with 690 and most total yards with 717.

 

Jefferson tied the record for touchdown passes by a team with a six and by an individual as all six were thrown by Sammy Roberts.

Roberts, who completed 29-of-46 passes finished with 581 yards, which is a new record.

 

For Bridgeport, Landyn Reppert ran for 318 yards (the most in a game by a BHS player in school history) on 25 carries and three touchdowns, Aidan Paulsen had 238 yards on 17 carries and five touchdowns. Cam Cole added 103 yards on 19 carries and two touchdowns.

 

 “We knew coming in that this was going to be a game about us getting stops,” Jefferson coach Craig Hunter said. “We figured that we could move the ball offensively, we could score. But it was all about stopping their offense. We got one stop early and we couldn’t capitalize on that so that we could hopefully put them behind and make them chase us with their running game. It just didn’t work out that way for us.”

 

Oddly enough in a game that featured 10 rushing touchdowns for the Indians and six through the air for the Cougars, the first score for BHS was on a pass play and the first for Jefferson was on the ground.

 

Bridgeport’s game-opening drive started with six straight runs and the Indians moved it from their own 33 to the Jefferson 27. On the next snap, BHS went to the air as Cole hit a wide open Nate Lhotsky for the 27-yard touchdown pass.

 

It was Lhotsky’s eighth catch of the season and fifth for a TD.

 

The Cougars countered with a six-play drive of their own capped with a 4-yard TD run by Evan Tewell.

 

Each team had one of those rare defensive stops on the next two possessions. The Indians put together a 14-play drive but turned the ball over on downs at the Jefferson 35. The Cougars proceeded to go three-and-out and after punting, the Indians had the ball back near midfield.

 

Four plays later, Reppert was into the end zone for the first time on a 34-yard touchdown run and the offensive flood gates were about to open.

 

“It all starts up front, our line came to play today,” Reppert said. “And we all ran really hard today. When the line is playing like that and all the backs are running that hard, we feel like we can get anything done.”

 

A crucial sequence for the Indians came following Reppert’s first touchdown as place kicker Taylor Thomas executed a perfect onside kick and recovered it himself.

 

The next play from scrimmage was a 31-yard Td run for Paulsen which extended Bridgeport’s lead to 21-7.

 

Phil Reed came up with a huge defensive play for the Indians on the next series, meeting Tewell right at the line of scrimmage on a fourth-and-1 run play. Reed brought him down, forcing a turnover on downs. Four plays later, Paulsen was in the end zone for a second time with a 41-yard run.

 

Paulsen’s performance on Saturday didn’t only establish career highs, it nearly surpassed his 2021 output.

 

“It’s pretty amazing to get five touchdowns in a game, I’ve never scored that many in a game before,” Paulsen said.  “I only had five all season coming into this one. All I can do is thank my line and my lead blockers. There wouldn’t be any touchdowns without them.”

 

Down 28-7, Jefferson quickly showed that no lead was going to be safe for the Indians. Roberts threw his first touchdown pass to Isiah Fitz for 30 yards to make it 28-14.

 

The Indians closed out the final 2 minutes of the second quarter with a 64-yard touchdown run from Reppert and a 12-yard run from Paulsen to take a 41-14 lead into halftime.

 

“It all comes down to what the defense gives us and what’s open,” BHS coach Tyler Phares said. “We saw that our wingback position (Paulsen) could have a good day based on pregame alignments and we thought our fullback (Reppert) could have a big night.

“A lot has to be said about our line and the job they did and the kids in the backfield were rewarded for it.”

 

The Cougars struck first in the second half as Robert hooked up with Spencer Powell for a 19-yard touchdown pass.

 

The Indians countered with back-to-back TD runs from Cole, one covering 8 yards, the other from 1 yard out that made it 55-21 with 5 minutes left in the third. Cole now has 24 rushing touchdowns this season.

 

Roberts connected with Tewell on TD passes of 10 and 5 yards to get the Cougars within 20 with still 3:51 left in the third at 55-35.

 

Touchdown number four by Paulsen on a 54-yard run extended Bridgeport’s lead to 61-35 only for the Cougars to quickly answer with a 60-yard TD pass from Roberts to Keyshawn Robinson with 1:47 to go in the third.

 

Reppert’s final trip to the end zone came on a 23-yard run. Robert’s final TD pass followed soon after, another one to Robinson, covering 39 yards.

 

Finally, the final points came with 1:44 left, fittingly by Paulsen as he took it in from 1 yard out to make it 74-49.

 

On top of all the rushing records set by the Indians, the 74 points is the most they have ever scored in a game.

 

“Normally when your offense is playing that well you can get your starters out and rested,” Phares said. “We couldn’t today because their offense was so good and they kept coming back and scoring themselves. That’s a great team with a great offense we beat today.”

 

The Cougars had three receivers surpass the 100-yard mark in the game as Powell caught nine passes for 193 yards, Robinson had eight for 187 and Fritz reeled in seven for 126.

 

Next week will be the fifth meeting between the Indians and Martinsburg, which has won the Class AAA title every year since 2010 except for 2014 (Capital), 2015 (Wheeling Park) and 2020, the COVID year in which South Charleston was declared the Class AAA champs after the Super Six was cancelled.

 

The most recent game for BHS against Martinsburg came in the 2010 quarterfinals, a 31-7 victory for the Bulldogs that also marked the last time the Indians didn’t advance to at least the semifinals.

 

Bridgeport does however have a postseason victory against Martinsburg in the books as the Indians beat the Bulldogs, 27-26, in the first round of the 2007 playoffs.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Paulsen in the end zone, second photo is of Reppert looking for someone to block, third photo is of Cole looking for running room with Ryan Hall (62) out in a blocking lane. Fourth photo is of Reppert closing in on Jefferson's Isiah Fritz (8) and bottom photo is of Paulsen off to the end zone for one of his five TD runs. Photos by Joe LaRocca.