Bruin head coach Shaun Bavaro and the Brookings-Harbor High School varsity football ball team were on the road Friday night for their second consecutive week, traveling to Sutherlin last Friday evening to take on the Bulldogs, and then traveling to Phoenix to challenge the Pirates.
The Bruins seem to have been putting things together in the past two games, putting 20 points of offense on the scoreboard against the Bulldogs, and then showing up in Phoenix Friday night much more confident in all aspects of their game.
Brookings-Harbor would get one of many fumble recoveries on the night early in the first period on the Phoenix 25 yard line. The Bruins would have a touchdown called back by penalty, before senior quarterback Kyle Burger, #14, dropped back and hit Seth Valliere, #1 in the front corner of the endzone for a 24 yard touchdown.
On the next Phoenix series after the ensuing kick-off, the Bruin secondary would get beat deep on a 3rd and 6 fly pattern for a 76 yard touchdown, making the score 8-7, Pirates.
From the first plays from scrimmage, it was clear that the line including Rafael Cavaus #79, Michael Varitek #62, Cameryn Brown #56, Colton Hill #50, and Zoelyn Collins #54, were working together the best they have all year so far, creating holes for their running game, protecting Burger long enough to establish a passing game and stopping the Phoenix run game on the other side of the ball.
The Bruins had their mistakes in the game, but this Bruin team worked their way through those setbacks as both teams turned the ball over more than once. After a Bruin interception turning the ball over to the Pirates on their own 27 yard line, the Bruins Colton Hill #50, would recover one of his two fumble recoveries in the 2nd period alone, setting up a second Bruin touchdown after Kyle Burger rolled out to his left and hit junior Camron Hendrix, #10, on a 45 yard touchdown pass, putting the Bruins up 8-15 with 25 seconds left in the half.
The Pirates would try a deep strike with seconds left in the half, however, defensive back Seth Valliere, #1, stepped in front of the pattern to make the interception and return the ball all the way to the 6 yard line. Burger would then hit #8, senior, Kallen Christensen in the flat on the right side and put the ball in the endzone to extend the Bruin lead to 8-21 at the half-time break.
The second half of play would become a defensive battle with both teams putting together drives in the 3rd period, however, the Pirates would use some ball control offense and sustain a long drive, culminating in a 7 yard touchdown pass by the Pirates, closing the point spread to 14-21.
The 4th period saw both teams continue to make plays before stalling out and punting. The Bruins would take the ball in the 4th quarter and put together a long sustained drive that would take much of the 4th quarter before Burger handed off to #2, Kyler Christensen who found the edge on the left side for a 4 yard touchdown run and 14-28 Bruin lead late.
“We’ve been close in a few games,” coach Bavaro said after the game. “We executed better in all three phases of the game for four quarters. The team battled and showed a lot of growth tonight, and right now we are super proud of this team”.
The Bruins now look forward to putting all this together for a showdown with the undefeated South Umpqua Lancers, next Friday evening at home, with a 7:00pm kick-off time.
