The rain fell steadily through four quarters of football this evening at East-West Stadium. For Fairmont Senior, however, it must have felt like an avalanche.

 

Thanks to an offensive onslaught and another dominating effort by the defense, Bridgeport rolled to a 42-7 victory over the Polar Bears. And even more incredibly, the Indians scored 42 straight in getting the win.

 

Bridgeport amassed 476 yards on the night, including a blistering 442 yards on the ground on 59 runs. Defensively, the numbers were just as staggering. Fairmont finished with 151 yards of offense, but carried the ball 18 times for a minus-15 yards. Of those 151 yards, 95 of it came on one play, which proved to be the only real blemish of the game.

 

“It seems in big games our defense is dominant minus one play. Not counting the Wheeling Park game, Robert C. Byrd had a big play, Lewis County had a big play and now Fairmont Senior had a big play,” said BHS Coach Josh Nicewarner. “That stuff’s going to cost us one of these times in the playoffs. Otherwise, you’ve got to be pleased with the performance.”

 

Before Nicewarner was pleased he saw his team’s – and the game’s – first drive stall on a failed fourth down play on the Fairmont Senior 6-yard line. After stuffing a Polar Bear runner on the first play for a one-yard loss, quarterback Dominic Smith found Nick Davisson just beyond the BHS defense and Davisson pulled in the pass along the left sideline.

 

Once the catch was made, there was too much distance between Davisson and any Tribe defender to close the gap. Davisson went 95 yards for the score and the point-after kick made it 7-0 with 7:58 in the first quarter.

 

After that, the defense took over. And the offense poured it on for the rest of the first half and throughout much of the second half as well.

 

The early stop by Fairmont would be the last in the first half as Bridgeport would score on its next three possessions. The first came with just 57.4 seconds to play in the first quarter when Elijah Drummond ended a seven-play 60-yard drive by busting over on a fourth-and-goal play from the one-yard line. The first of two successful first half point after kicks by Koby Kiefer, who was good on 4-of-5 tries in the game, made it 7-7.

 

As the offense began to go to work, the defense quickly atoned for its mistake. In fact, it stopped Fairmont on its remaining three drives in the opening two frames and completely eliminated the Fairmont Senior ground game.

 

By the end of the first half, Fairmont had minus-26 yards rushing on nine carries. Smith managed to complete 5-of-8 passes for 120 yards, but the hosts had only 94 yards of total offense – or primarily the one scoring play.

 

With the defense getting things in check, Bridgeport would add two more scores in the second period. The first drive of quarter two was a 10-play, 52-yard clock eater that required a seven-yard run by Dylan Tonkery on fourth-and-four at the Fairmont 9-yard line to set the stage for Mitchell Winkie’s scoring run. Winkie ended the surge with a two-yard run up the gut for a 14-7 lead with 5:06 to go before halftime.

 

The half seemed to be headed for a one-score deficit for Fairmont, but Tonkery had other ideas. After returning a punt with under two minutes to play in the first half for 24 yards to put Bridgeport at its own 42-yard line, the junior running back wasted little time to put an exclamation point on the first half.

 

Tonkery took the handoff on the first play after the punt, ran hard to his left for nearly 10 yards before cutting back against the grain and outrunning the entire Fairmont defense for the touchdown. Tonkery’s 58-yard run made it 20-0 with 1:26 left before halftime following a missed point-after kick.

 

For the half, the Tribe had 223 yards on 30 plays. Bonamico managed 65 yards on seven carries despite sitting out much of it for what Nicewarner described as “precautionary reasons.”

 

When the second half began, Bonamico returned and so did the dominance that was displayed in the first half. In fact, after the Tribe forced Fairmont to punt on the Polar Bears’ opening second half possession, the visitors quickly put to bed any thoughts of a comeback.

 

Bridgeport would need just three plays – a 30-yard run by quarterback Zack Spurlock, a 25 yard run by Bonamico and a final run of 10 yards for six by Tonkery – to make the score 26-7. A Bonamico two-point conversion run made it 28-7 with 10:37 showing in the third.

 

BHS would score two more times in the third period. Bonamico would cap a drive with a one-yard run for a 35-7 lead, while the defense set up the next score two plays later. Noah Markley nailed Smith as he was running up in the pocket and forced a fumble that teammate Brandon Hartz pounced on at the Fairmont 37.

 

The Indians got into position to score again when Spurlock hit end Zach Bombardiere on a 29-yard pass play. The Indians ended the short drive on a one-yard run on fourth-and-goal by Spurlock to post the game’s final touchdown with 1:03 to play in the third.

 

Tonkery was huge in his return from a rib injury. He finished with 149 yards on 18 carries. Bonamico gave the Tribe two 100-yard rushers as he finished with 115 yards on 14 runs. Spurlock was also solid with 73 yards on just six carries.

 

“I was pleased (Tonkery) was able to get healthy. I think he may need to work on his conditioning a little bit. I was pleased with how he ran the ball and how (the line) blocked,” said Nicewarner.

 

The Indians were able to amass the yardage despite Fairmont switching up its defense. Nicewarner said the Polar Bears went with an even set, which was unexpected.

 

“It threw us a little. It took a while to adjust and adapt to it,” Nicewarner said.

 

Bridgeport used Kiefer, a freshman, to do kickoffs and extra points. He would have punted as well, but the Tribe didn’t punt in the contest.

 

“We’re hoping for good things out of him,” said Nicewarner.

 

Unfortunately, senior Nick Strogen who had been perfect on point-after tries and several field goals is out for the season with a knee injury suffered in Bridgeport’s boys’ soccer regional final earlier this week.

 

The Indians can finish the season at 9-1 with a win at Preston. The Indians may still be able to finish as the top seed, but will get a push from unbeaten Frankfort. The Falcons topped Keyser 28-27 in overtime tonight. Finishing first or second in Class AA will guarantee home field advantage throughout the postseason.

 

Bridgeport will visit Kingwood next Friday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

 

Click HERE for a photo gallery from the game by Tyler Maxwell.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Dylan Tonkery breaking free for some of his 100-plus yards of rushing, while the team's defense swarmed on Fairmont Senior in the second photo. Tonkery is shown returning a punt in the third photo, while Dante Bonamico gets a huge chunk of yardage in the final photo. Photos by Tyler Maxwell of www.benqueenphotography.com.