By KELLY GILFILLAN
Brentwood Home Page
Brentwood’s Bruin football team traveled south to take on Independence High School Friday night.  Despite being up 27-0 in the third quarter, the Bruins still had some work to do with a late Indy attempt at a comeback.  Turnovers were also a big game-changer with the Eagles having two each fumbles and interceptions and the Bruins having one each.

"No matter who is out there," said Crawford to his team, "we have got to finish.  We had it going and we didn't finish."

In their first possession, the Bruins worked their way up the field maintaining possession for the majority of the quarter with almost 20 plays.  Jake Gallardo and Jason Springer kept the running game going while quarterback Clay Webber and Austin Sanders made continual connections. Webber also made key quarterback keep plays on third downs.  The long drive ended in a missed field goal, turning the ball over to the Eagles on the BHS 20-yard line.

“I’ve been able to run more this year since I have a backup,” said Webber, who went 6 for 12 on the night.  “They have been more lenient with what I can do.”

Three plays later Gallardo recovered the ball for the Bruins with an interception.  Chudi Echetebu carried the ball down to the four-yard line, setting the Bruins up for their first score of the night, a two-yard pass from Webber to Springer.  The first quarter ended with a Bruin lead 6-0 after a missed extra point.

“I connected most with Jason Springer tonight,” said Webber.  “We had a slow second half and couldn’t finish.  But it was a good lesson.”

The Bruin defense had the pressure on Independence led by Chris Hoop who had 12 tackles on the night.  Only two plays after kickoff, Independence turned the ball back over to the Bruins with a fumble.  Webber took control with completed passes to Springer and then Sanders.  The next play was a seven-yard touchdown by Sanders with 9:59 left in the half.  Matt England’s PAT was good bringing the Bruins lead to 13-0.

The Eagles controlled the ball for 19 plays on their next possession, ending with a standoff on the BHS four-yard line.  At fourth and four, the Eagles decided to go for it but the Bruin defense stood their ground and denied the advance.  Taking possession on the two yard line with only 41 seconds left in the half, the Bruins ran two plays to run out the clock.   The score remained 13-0 for the half.

The Bruins came on strong early in the second half with an 18-yard run by Josh Killet.  Killet repeated his efforts and this time took the ball in to the endzone with a 59 yard run.  The PAT was good, bringing the BHS lead to 20-0.

In their next possession after two first downs, the Eagles successfully found themselves facing another fourth down and kicking to the Bruins.  The snap went high and the IHS kicker was forced to chase the ball and fall on it on their own 22 yard line. 

Killett quickly made a long run bringing the ball down to the IHS four yard line.  With 7:23 left in the third quarter, Killett made a run to the right in to the endzone for the Bruins fourth touchdown.  England’s extra point was good leaving the score 27-0.

The Eagles made their first real move of the half with an Eagle interception on a Webber pass intended for Houston Brown.  Quarterback Adam Thompson, who was 29 for 26 on the night, moved the Eagles downfield with a nine-play drive.  However, Eagles drive ended on fourth and six with a quarterback sack by defensive end Greg Stone.

The Bruins, with their second string on the field, handed the ball back to the Eagles after just four downs.  With 7:30 left in the fourth quarter, Eagles quarterback Adam Thompson made the scramble look easy play after play and moved the ball up the field.  On a completed pass to #28 Dyer, Thompson finally gave the Eagles the elusive touchdown with 5:59 left in the quarter and completed a two-point conversion leaving the score 27-8.

On on-side kick was recovered by BHS but the Bruins only held the ball for four plays and a minute and a half.  Independence then blocked the kick and ran it back to the Bruin four-yard line.  Two plays later, the Eagles took it across the goal line but missed the two point conversion leaving the score 27-14.

Sanders recovered the ensuing on-side kick.  The BHS crowd grew uncomfortable, though, when BHS again turned the ball over to the Eagles with a fumble with 3:30 left in the half.  After their second first down, Killet took a little steam out of their sails with a quarterback sack back to their own 41 yard line.  Killet and fellow defenseman Stone each had seven tackles on the night.

Thompson continued to scramble eluding the BHS defenders until Truett Harris put an end to the Eagle’s drive with a deciding backfield tackle.

Head coach Ron Crawford told his Bruins following the game, “We’ll take the win any way we can get it but we have got to finish.  I’m proud to be 1-0 in the district and 2-1 overall but we are better than this.  We have to prove it to ourselves first and play with great effort.”

He told his team not to lose sight of the victory but to put within themselves the determination to be better.

“I have to give credit to Independence tonight.  They kept fighting and their quarterback battled back,” said Crawford.  “We substituted too quickly on defense and they kept fighting.  We will need to practice better, more intensely and more focused.”

In regard to Webber running the ball more this year, Crawford responded, “Some of it tonight was he was running for his life.  But it’s our plan in moving the ball to have Clay running more.”

The Bruins are off for the weekend but will work all day on Monday in preparation for the Thursday night game at home against Oakland High School.  Game time is 7:30 p.m.

#22 Austin Sanders breaks a tackle to move the ball up the field for the Bruins.

Bruin fans and cheerleaders celebrate the first touchdown.

Jason Springer #2 leads with a tackle for Austin Sanders' run upfield.

The BHS Marching Band performed for the IHS crowd.  BHS fans will see their new performance this coming Thursday night.

In a different kind of showdown, the BHS drum line faces off the IHS drumline after halftime.