Bombers beat Braves remain unbeaten in district play
Everything about Thursday’s game with Riverside was ugly. The weather was ugly. The field was ugly. The officiating was ugly. And the Bombers’ first quarter play was ugly. About the only thing that wasn’t ugly was the final result as the Bombers overcame a sluggish start to dominate the Braves, 48-6, and move to 3-0 in district play.
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“It was real ugly,” Bomber head
coach Todd Hudson said of the Bombers’ performance, “but it was a win and
we’ll take it and go to work on Monday.”
The weather turned cold before the game, and so did the
Bombers as they took the opening kickoff and were forced to punt after just
three plays.
The Braves came out on fire as they quickly gained two first
downs on passes of 11- and 15-yards. After
a couple of short runs, Riverside was threatening to score at the Bomber 19-yard
line. Bomber defensive end Chris
Messner quickly doused Riverside’s fire as he dropped the Braves running back
for a four-yard loss and the Bombers took over at their own 23.
That proved to be the Bombers’ wake-up call as they took
over with 6:07 remaining in the first and proceeded to crush the Braves from
that point on.
Bomber quarterback Willie Lane scampered 11 yards on the
first play, and hooked up with Richard Rubio for an 18-yard pass two plays
later. Freshman Josh Fatjo added a
nine-yard run and Lane burst through the line for ten as the Bombers marched to
the Riverside five ending the first quarter.
Two plays into the second Lane optioned left for the score.
Justin Garza booted the PAT and the Bombers led, 7-0, with 11:18
remaining in the half.
Riverside’s following possession ended as senior linebacker
Matt Gray snagged an interception giving the Bombers the ball at the Brave
13-yard line.
It took the Bombers just one play to score as Lane found
Garza in the corner of the endzone for the score. Garza again added the PAT and the Bombers led, 14-0.
A 40-yard kickoff return set the Braves up at the Bomber 34,
but Riverside couldn’t move as the Bomber “D” stuffed the Braves once
again.
It took the Bombers just five plays to move 68 yards to
paydirt. Josh Hughes sprinted 19
yards on the opening play, and Lane followed with a 20-yard scamper.
Charlie Love went around the end for 11 yards and Hughes burst through
the line for 12 to set up a six-yard Gary Perry touchdown run.
Garza put the ball through the uprights for the PAT, 21-0.
After the two teams traded punts, the Bombers put the
two-minute drill to good use as they took over at their own 45 with just 1:48
remaining in the half. Lane went
for 28 yards to open the drive and found Love for a 12-yard gain on the
following play. Three plays later
Lane again found a diving Garza in the corner of the endzone for a 15-yard
scoring strike. Garza added the
extra point giving the Bombers a 28-0 halftime lead.
The Bombers needed just two plays to start the scoring in the
second half as Lane raced 28 yards to the endzone.
The PAT was good, 35-0.
The Bomber defense again forced the Braves to punt.
Lane took the punt return and made a dazzling 86-yard sprint for an
apparent score, but there was that pesky yellow hanky laying on the ground about
70 yards behind Lane and the ball was brought back to the Bomber ten-yard line.
The Bombers followed by running 7:12 seconds off of the clock
with an impressive 90-yard scoring drive. Hughes and Love started the drive with back-to-back nine-yard
runs. Rashad Stanford added a
seven-yard run before a 16-yard Lane scamper was called back for holding.
Fatjo and Lane followed with runs of eight- and nine-yards, respectively,
before Love and Stanford both reeled off 12-yard gains.
After a short loss, Stanford carried for six, Love for 13, and Fatjo for
nine before Love bowled his way in from one yard out giving the Bombers a 41-0
lead.
Chris Thurman, "Critter" as he's known to his
teammates, returned an interception 20 yards
for the Bombers final score.
Defensively the Bombers dominated holding the Braves to 129
yards and three first downs. Of
those 129 yards, 69 came on the Braves scoring pass mid-way through the fourth
against the Bomber youngsters.
After the first quarter, Big Red was impressive on offense
gaining 408 yards and 23 first downs. Lane
had a big night for the Bombers rushing for 110 yards and two touchdowns and
completing five of eight passes for 61 yards and two more scores.
Several other Bombers had good nights as well.
Hughes remained steady carrying six times for 62 yards and Love added 38
yards and a touchdown on nine carries while youngsters Fatjo and Stanford added
48- and 36- yards, respectively.
The Bombers enjoyed the win after the game, but it wasn’t
hard to tell that they weren’t satisfied with their performance.
Big Red will look to improve next week as they try to move to 4-0 in
district play when they host Sayre on Friday.