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The Brentwood High Bruins finished up their spring practice with an intra-squad Blue-Gold Game Tuesday night that showcased a lot of young talent and demonstrated why the reigning District 11-AAA champions are expected to compete for a fourth straight title in the fall.

Even though missing a few standouts who are still participating in spring sports, BHS head football coach Ron Crawford put 80 players on the field who battled for four quarters to prove they deserve a spot on the depth chart in August. The Blue Team (wearing white jerseys) beat the Gold team 14-7 with two second-half touchdowns.

Gold backup QB Austin Wells, a rising sophomore, was his team's leading rusher including a 35-yard TD run. Junior Austin Winfree threw for 70 years on 4-of-6 as the starter. (Photos by Peg Fredi)

Missing from the game were three returning starters and fall 2011 seniors: kicker Matt England (soccer), defensive end Nick Coffey (track & field) and defensive tackle Nick Contini (track & field). 

The opportunity to play was seized upon by a few newcomers, including Will Witherspoon (senior defensive end), Mark Randolph (sophomore linebacker), and returning senior and starting punter Ryan Ault, who also handled both place-kicking duties.

Witherspoon (Blue) and Randolph (Gold) recorded six tackles each and contributed to the stingy defense that Brentwood is known for, keeping the game a low-scoring affair.

Other defensive standouts on the Gold were rising seniors Truett Harris (linebacker) with 9 tackles, Carson O'Neill (linebacker) with 7 tackles, Jonathan Regan (safety) with 6 tackles and Steve Nixon (linebacker) with 2 tackles and a forced fumble

Leading the Blue defense were Chudi Echetebu (linebacker) with 10 tackles, Demetrics Brown (defensive tackle) with 6 tackles, Kyle Burke (defensive back) with 6 tackles, juniors J.B. Calton (defensive back) with 7 tackles, Logan Teichmann (defensive end) with 5 tackles, and sophomore Ben Green (defensive back) with 3 tackles and 2 blocked passes.

White team quarterback Aaron Maher, a rising sophomore who is a lefty, had 107 yards passing on 7-of-8 and 58 yards rushing.

On offense, the Blue team was led by rising sophomore quarterback Aaron Maher who completed 7 of 8 passes for 107 yards, and rushed for 58 yards on 10 carries, including a 34-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

Three of his passes were caught by senior halfback Chudi Echetebu for 80 yards. Echetebu also carried the ball 11 times for 52 yards.

The Blue team scored the go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter when rising senior Austin Sanders carried the ball in from 6 yards out on a pitch from Maher. Sanders finished with 4 carries for 26 yards and 1 reception for 10 yards. Between two receptions and three carries, junior Jake Driver contributed another 25 yards of offense. Team Blue ended with 255 yards total offense.

The Gold team had its share of offensive heros, led by junior quarterback Austin Winfree who had 4 completions in 6 attempts for 70 yards. He also rushed 10 times for 19 yards, which includes a loss of 10 on his only sack of the night (which under high school rules counts against rushing yards).

The leading ground-gainer for team Gold was backup QB Austin Wells (sophomore) who had 46 yards on 10 carries, including a 35-yard touchdown run in the 2nd quarter. Wells also completed 2 passes in 2 attempts for 31 yards.

Other notables from the Gold lineup were senior Jonathan Regan who carried 3 times for 26 yards before losing 8 on a halfback pass that was snuffed-out by Blue's quick defense and resulted in a sack. Junior Hayden Young also showed promise, carrying the ball for 17 yards on just 2 carries. Senior Colton Hill and sophomore Michael James both caught passes of 25 yards. The Gold Team ended the game with 210 yards of total offense.

The teams were divided evenly according to spring depth chart to ensure competiveness.

Brentwood’s season starts Aug. 19 in Cookeville, then the Bruins open at home against 2010 6A state champion runner-up Smyrna on Aug. 26.