Stumbling Bruins lose to rival in battle for second place

By ANDREW SKWARA
For Brentwood Home Page
Brentwood's winning streak over Franklin has ended and now they play wait-and-see for the playoffs.

(Photos by Peg Fredi for BHP)

With second place in District 11-3A on the line, Brentwood fumbled the ball away four times in Franklin territory and stumbled to a 24-10 loss in its final regular season game on a chilly Friday night.

Brentwood, which had won three straight over its longtime rival and five of the previous six meetings, must now wait to find out who it will face and where it will be sent in the first round of the state playoffs next week.

“I think (Franklin) has a good team, but we self-destructed,” said Brentwood coach Ron Crawford, who moves to 9-6 all-time against the Rebels. “You can't turn the ball over and beat a good football team. We just didn't execute well enough offensively.”

Thanks to the remarkable play of its defense, Brentwood managed to hang with Franklin for the first two quarters. The Rebels got inside the Brentwood 10-yard line on four straight possessions in the first half, but came away with zero points on each of those drives.

Twice the Rebels were stopped on fourth down and twice the Bruins forced and recovered fumbles of their own.

After a rare Chudi Echetebu fumble at the Bruins' 26-yard line, the Bruins' stingy defense made another stop that led to Connor Pearce's 36-yard field goal, which tied the score at 3-3 with 23 seconds left in the second quarter.

“In the first half we got the ball in negative territory quite a bit, but our defense really scrapped hard and kept us in the game. Holding them to that field goal was huge.”

On the opening drive of the second half, the Bruins' defense appeared to hold Franklin to a 34-yard field goal from Pearce. But, a roughing the kicker call was made, and, on the next play, Matt Kulvinen fired a touchdown pass to put the Rebels up 10-3.

With Crawford inserting back-up quarterback Aaron Maher for Austin Winfree, the Bruins' offense responded with a 73-yard drive – aided by a pair of 15-yard penalties against the Rebels – that ended with Maher's two-yard touchdown plunge to tie the game again at 10-10.

“We were just trying to spark the offense and it was just time to give Aaron a chance,” Crawford said. “I'm sure Austin will do a great job of bouncing back next week to prepare for wherever they send us.”

Franklin answered immediately, needing just six plays to march 74 yards as Colton black scored on a touchdown run to put the Rebels up for good at 17-10.

Late in the fourth quarter, Kulvinen connected with David Page for a 30-yard touchdown pass.

Brentwood drove into Franklin's 10-yard line in the final minute, but turned the ball over on downs.

Matt England's 42-yard field goal in the first quarter gave Brentwood the initial lead at 3-0.

Despite the disappointing loss, Crawford's message to the team after the game centered around their ability to still do damage in the postseason.

“We are still alive. We still have a heartbeat,” he said. “We can dwell on this or we can keep fighting on … We are in the tournament and we can't just finish. We have to finish strong.”