Mother Nature cooperated at the start of this evening’s Bridgeport football game with Keyser as threatening skies stopped raining just prior to kickoff. Unfortunately for the Golden Tornado, Bridgeport brought its own lightning in the form of Dylan Tonkery and more than enough thunder from the defense.

 

Behind a monstrous first half showing by Tonkery on the ground and defense that stifled one of the top offenses in the state, the Indians rolled past Keyser by a 38-0 score this evening at Wayne Jamison Field.

 

The win moves Bridgeport to 6-0-1 on the year. The loss, the second straight for the Golden Tornado, leaves them at 5-2.

 

Tonkery was completely unstoppable in the first half of play with 10 carries for 171 yards and a touchdown. He would finish with the same amount of yards on 15 carries for the game. If that wasn’t enough, Dante Bonamico added nine carries for 121 yards with three scores to further compound things.

 

“I think what you see with Dylan and Dante is that they can make the big plays and that’s great for us when they do. Then you see them trying to make the big plays when we just need yards and we get into a little bit of trouble,” said BHS Coach Josh Nicewarner.

 

Trouble wasn’t seen too often on offense. And it also wasn’t seen too much on defense.

 

Defensively, a team averaging 40.8 points per game was shutout. The Golden Tornado finished with 173 yards on 68 plays – most of that came in the second half when the game was out of reach.

 

“It wasn’t shutdown, but it was bend don’t break. We needed that. Keep in mind, that’s a good football team,” said BHS Coach Josh Nicewarner. “ … That’s a big physical football team that’s going to make plays because they’re a good team. We were able to limit those and force them into mistakes and took advantage of those mistakes.”

 

The Indians’ defense made some adjustments heading into the week and the dividends came immediately. Brier Anderson was moved to defensive end this week and helped stuff the KHS offensive attack.

“I thought (Anderson) did a great job and our tackles did a great job; Noah Markley had some big plays. This was a team defensive effort and I couldn’t be happier for them,” Nicewarner said.

 

The fireworks that would make the folks from Keyser unhappy started early in the game – real early. In fact, on the opening kickoff J.T. Harris hauled it in at the five-yard line and a set up middle return worked almost to perfection. Harris went 80 yards before being brought down just outside the five-yard line to give the Indians immediate great field position.

 

“I’ve always looked at J.T. as an athlete, but I think he’s turning into a football player,” said Nicewarner.  “He’s understanding the game better and what we’re trying to do. Even though he got caught from behind (on the kickoff), I was pretty pleased.”

 

Three plays later, Bonamico was the beneficiary of Harris’ early work. On third down, the senior blasted up the gut for a two-yard score. After the first of four first half point-after kicks by Koby Kiefer, it was 7-0 Indians with 10:28 still showing on the clock.

 

Although Keyser would put up a bit of a fight throughout much of the first period, it would be Tonkery that would suck the wind out of the sails of the Golden Tornado. Earlier in the period, Tonkery gave the opposition a preview of things to come with a 94-yard touchdown run that was called back due to penalty and resulted in a 62-yard play thanks to a block in the back.

 

KHS would stop the Indians a yard short on fourth down on the drive, but it was a harbinger of the doom that Tonkery was about to rain down late in the frame. With the ball at the Bridgeport 35-yard-line, Keyser put 10 men in the box and Tonkery would make them pay.

 

After getting brushed at the line of scrimmage, the West Virginia University commit jumped a second defender and then simply outraced everyone to the end zone. Sixty-five yards later, Tonkery staked the Tribe to a 14-0 lead with 1:12 still showing in the first period.

 

“In the first half the line was blocking really good and the way their defense was playing there was a guy too far outside and it enabled me to get up the middle and he couldn’t catch me once I got past him,” said Tonkery. “When they stack so many people in the box a double team was driving them back and it leaves usually just one person for me to need to beat.”

 

Keyser again shows signs of life by stopping the Indians in the early stages of the second period and getting one drive inside the BHS 40-yard line. In fact, things were looking like a potential two possession game when disaster struck late in the second period.

Lining up to punt at their own 35, the Tornado saw the snap to the punter go high and the resulting scrum for the ball ended at the KHS 5-yard line. On the very next play, Bonamico burst up the gut for six and what would be a 21-0 lead with 3:11 to go before halftime.

 

Unfortunately for the visitors from Mineral County, Bridgeport wasn’t done.  A quick three-and-out forced by the Bridgeport defense followed by a short punt gave the Indians the ball back at the Keyser 39-yard line.

 

Five plays later, quarterback Zack Spurlock kept the ball from three yards out for the first half’s final touchdown with 12.8 seconds to play. Spurlock’s keeper to the right left the Indians up 28-0.

 

Keyser managed just 62 yards on 34 plays – including a team loss of 32 yards on the bad snap to the punter. KHS’s situation wasn’t aided when standout quarterback Brady Ours left the game late in the first quarter and was seen holding a bag of ice on it as he headed into the locker room at the half. The team’s leading rusher and passer did not return.

 

Bridgeport had 218 yards at halftime. The Tribe carried the ball 21 times for 212 yards and it was Tonkery doing the damage. Bridgeport would finish the game with 338 yards of offense on 36 plays, or just over 10 yards per play.

 

The Indians would score two more times in the second half. Bonamico came up with a 90-yard touchdown run with 1:11 in the third period to affectively crush any remaining hopes for what would turn into a 35-0 lead. And with 7:03 to play, Kiefer – who hit all five of his point-after kicks – drilled a 32-yard field goal for the game’s final points.

 

For the second straight year, Nicewarner told his team this was the barometer game for the Indians. While many may believe that the honor may go to Robert C. Byrd, Nicewarner said that game is too much of a rivalry to get an accurate gauge.

 

“There’s so much emotion in the Byrd game it’s hard to get a judge of it. We needed to find out what kind of football team we had and I think tonight showed this we’re in this to get to Wheeling,” said Nicewarner.

 

Tonkery said the coach preached that point home prior to the contest.

 

“Before the game, just like last year, coach said to us that this is a test to see if we’re capable of winning a state championship,” said Tonkery. “I think we passed that test.”

 

Bridgeport returns to action next week with its final road game of the year. The Indians will visit North Marion. The 3-3 Huskies fell by a 22-15 score to Lewis County this evening.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Dylan Tonkery rambling  for one of several big runs in the game, while the  defense - here led by Elijah Drummond (33) and Hunter Haddix punished the KHS offense all night. In the third photo, J.T. Harris heads up field for part of his 80-yard kickoff return. In the fourth picture, Dante Bonamico  shows some emotion after one of his three touchdowns, while the offensive line opened holes throughout the game. In the bottom picture, Coach Josh Nicewarner gives instruction to his team. Photos by Tyler Maxwell of www.benqueenphotography.com.