Gallery by Craig Allison
Charleston – The Tribe rolled once more to cap a historic campaign.
No. 3 Bridgeport’s vaunted rushing offense picked up a Class AAA record 431 yards on the ground in a 49-7 victory over No. 4 Herbert Hoover in the Class AAA state championship Saturday afternoon at UC Stadium at Laidley Field.
The win caps the second 14-0 season and seventh undefeated campaign in program history.
The Indians, who invoked a running clock in every game they played this season, followed suit one more time scoring their seventh and final touchdown of the game with 10:39 to go in the fourth quarter, ensuring the final 22 minutes of the game would be played without doubt.
“It’s how we practice, it’s what we do every day,” Bridgeport head coach Tyler Phares said. “It’s what we talk about in January, and how it leads through. Our entire program is about discipline and doing the right things and putting, trying to put kids in pressure situations, and I thought the kids just stepped up to the plate today.”
Hoover’s approach on offense was to keep the ball away from the Indians offense, a strategy that struggled to prevail against a stout Bridgeport defense.
In total the Indians held Hoover to 1-of-10 on third down attempts, making sustaining drives on offense a difficult endeavor. The Huskies lone score didn’t come until Dane Hatfield hit Talan Harrison on a 46-yard touchdown pass with 3:09 to go in the first half.
“It’s not easy to simulate in the week,” Herbert Hoover head coach Joey fields said. “It’s the first time you see it. Yeah, they’re running plays like power, counter and trap but it’s how they do it and then also, man, you gotta stop it, then you gotta go score. You gotta go get first downs. They get a lot of (praise) about their offense, but their defense is real good. Their special teams are real good. That thing goes into the end zone unless they don’t want it to. Coach Phares, it’s unbelievable. That’s a program that I admire and we’re inching closer and closer. We’re getting here, we’re getting here, we’re getting here. The more you’re here, sooner or later, you’re gonna leave with the gold.”
The 801 points scored by the Indians establishes a new single-season record for the program which had three rushers go over the 100 yard mark in Alex Moses (7-141-2), Josh Love (12-128-1) and Tim Jeffress (9-115-2).
Mosses, who had two pass breakups and four tackles on defense as well, earned MVP honors for Bridgeport while Dane Hatfield earned the same with 159 yards passing for the Huskies.
