The St. Mary’s Crusaders made the trip from Medford Friday night to challenge coach Bavaro and the Bruin varsity football team, and more high drama broke out at Bruin’s Elmer Bankus field complete with weather, long plays, and tough running in the trenches.
After pre-game formalities, the Bruins received the opening kick and returned it to the St. Mary’s 48 yard line, starting the Bruins first offensive series just inside Crusaders territory.
Three and half minutes into the first quarter freshman quarterback Grady Maylin, #10, would drop back and hit sophomore wide receiver, Lincoln Resenberg in stride on a skinny post pattern up the center of the for a 30 yard touchdown to start the scoring. St. Mary’s would take the ensuing kick-off and put together a long drive converting four first downs before missing a 25 yard field goal attempt as the first quarter ended.
The Bruins, leading 7-0 with the ball on their own 25 after the missed Crusader field goal as the second period began, would put the ball on the ground deep in their own territory, turning the ball over to St. Mary’s who would waste no time running a sweep into the endzone to tie the game at 7-7 less than 1:00 minute into the second period.
Now well into the game, defense from both teams took over the game, battling for yards in the middle of the rain drenched field with the Bruin line stuffing the run forcing a St. Mary’s turn over on downs and a #2, Kyler Christensen interception for the Bruins when the Crusaders were forced to throw late in the second period.
Tied 7-7 to start the second half of play, the Bruins would put together another long drive before finding the endzone again from 35 yards out before senior Michael Fulton, #21, put it through the uprights for the second time to give the Bruins a 14-7 lead. But just two minutes later, the Bruin defensive backfield would get beat deep, on a 45 yard Crusader pass down the sideline that would result in a St. Mary’s touchdown to tie the game at 14-14.
Again defense would take control with both teams stopping offensive drives and the Bruins turned the ball twice to end the third period. To start the fourth, the Bruin offense would turn the ball over on downs just over midfield before St. Mary’s rolled the dice once again, beating the Bruin defensive back field for a 55 yard pass play resulting in a Crusader touchdown and a 14-21 lead.
St. Mary’s would score again on a 25 yard sweep, escaping Bruin tackles all the way into the endzone extending the Crusader’s lead to 14-28 with just 7:30 left in the game. But the Bruins weren’t done, hitting senior Kyler Christensen #2 for a 35 yard touchdown to get the Bruins with a touchdown and two point conversion with just over 5:00 minutes to go in regulation.
The Bruins would hold the Crusaders to get the ball back with a chance to tie the game and Bruin offense would hand the ball to junior running back #8, Michael Varitek who would plow his way into the endzone, making the score 26-28 with just seconds left in the game. But the Crusaders would hold on the two point conversion, to go on to take the 26-28 win.
“Proud of how the kids battled all game. We saw a lot of growth tonight from them. Down two scores and clawing back into it. To have a chance to tie it up.” coach Bavaro said after the game. “It was good to see some of the kids step up in positions they typically don’t play and make some plays tonight, but we need to continue to eliminate the mental errors against a really good North Valley team next Friday.”
The Bruins travel to Grants Pass next Friday evening to take on the North Valley Knights, with kick-off scheduled for 7:00pm.
