Brookings-Harbor High School varsity football coach Shaun Bavaro and his team began the 2021 journey into their 3A-5 Far West League season with their opener on the road Friday night in Medford, taking on the Cascade Christian Challengers.
With palpable anticipation in the air, both teams took to the rain soaked turf, and a years worth of rust proved tough to work off. The Bruins received the kick-off, and the new look Bruin offense ran out to position. On the first play from scrimmage, the Bruins turned the ball over on a fumble, on their own 10 yard line.
If the Bruins needed something to wake them up, a goal line stand just seconds into the first game of the season will do that for you. And wake up the Bruins did, holding the Challengers, including a 4th and goal, forcing a Challenger turnover on downs, something the Bruin defense would do to the Challengers offense 5 times in the game.
The Bruin defense held its own, but costly penalties would prove tough to overcome. Later in the first period, the Challengers would start the scoring with a 21 yard pass to the flat, and a race to the corner of the endzone putting Cascade Christian up 7-0 late in the 1st.
With senior #11 Logan Holler at quarterback, the new look spread option offense of the Bruins kept the Challengers guessing, but again turn overs and penalties held the Bruins from the endzone. After moving the ball on a consistent multi-play drive, Holler took a big hit and sack at mid-field turning the ball over. The turnover set up a two play drive for the Challengers, covering 48 yards culminating in a 24 yard touchdown pass putting Cascade Christian up 14-0.
The Challengers would not look back, and took full advantage of the Bruins 3 first half fumbles, 1 interception and 2 turnovers on downs to rack up 428 total yards on the Bruins.
However, the Bruins did run up 381 total yards of offense of their own, including two long special teams returns against the Challengers from junior #6 Bradley Conduraki and senior #87 Jacub McCullom. The Bruins had 9 penalties for 74 yards, with some of these penalties coming after big Bruin plays, killing momentum. In Logan Holler’s starting quarterback debut, he went 7 for 21 with 151 passing yards and 1 interception, but it was his power running that proved frustrating to the Challenger defense.
Talking with Coach Bavaro after the game, he told the Compass “I thought we started flat…We had to many self inflected wounds.., But we’re proud of the kids with the way they dealt with adversity and they battled the entire game.” he said. “We have a lot kids in different positions and we played a much better second half. We’re at Sutherlin next week, they’ll be a tough out.., We’re seeing growth, so we’re just going to focus on us, and what we can control.”
