Bermudian Springs thrashes Fairfield
Bermudian Springs handed Fairfield its first loss of the season, 42-14, on Friday night, taking another step toward proving last year's .500 record is a thing of the past.
The Green Knights (4-1, 1-1 YAIAA Division III) came to Alumni Field hoping to continue their historic season, but they were unable to build any momentum against Bermudian’s lockdown defense.
“You have to respect them like you would anyone,” Bermudian Springs (4-1, 2-0 YAIAA Division III) head coach Jon DeFoe said after the game. “They were 4-0 and just as hungry as anyone else. Every week for them it’s like a new school record going forward, so I knew we were going to get a good effort out of them.”
The key to the Eagles’ success was making Fairfield’s Charlie Burnett a non-factor.
In his first four games this season, Burnett had averaged 7.91 yards per carry and scored five touchdowns. But against the Eagles’ defense, the sophomore running back managed just 89 yards on 22 carries, averaging just over 4 yards per attempt.
Bermudian, however, had no trouble running the ball on its home turf. The Eagles rushed for 316 yards on the night, improving upon their total of 285 from last week at Hanover. Unlike last week’s game, the Eagles did not utilize their passing game, throwing the ball just four times in the game.
“We just ran the ball so effectively it just didn’t really make any sense [to throw] when we were getting 7 or 8 yards a chunk like that,” DeFoe said. “We’ve thrown a lot to this point in the season, so it’s not something were getting away from, we were just running the ball so well tonight we wanted to keep it going.”
Senior Addison Wheeler got Bermudian on the board on its first drive of the game, running it in from the 19-yard line for the score. Ashton West followed that up with a 5-yard touchdown run of his own to make it 14-0 Bermudian, a lead that held until the end of the quarter.
The Green Knights had just a moment to celebrate Darian Mort's 1-yard touchdown early in the second quarter. Seconds after Mort's touchdown cut the deficit to 14-7, Bermudian’s Brenton Krebs returned the Fairfield kickoff 78 yards for a touchdown to make it a 14-point game once again.
Fairfield kept its hopes alive by scoring with 22 seconds to go in the half on a touchdown reception by Trystan Griffith, but the Knights would fail to score the remainder of the game.
The tandem of Wheeler and West was joined by senior Devon Hodgen in the second half to put the game out of reach. Hodgen caught Bermudian quarterback Chase Dull’s lone completion of the game for a 56-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter.
Hodgen finished the night with 136 rushing yards on 11 carries and the dagger of a reception to seal the Eagles’ victory.
Fairfield _0 _14 _0 _ 0 - _14
Bermudian Springs _14 _14 _ 7_7 - _42
First Quarter
BeS — Addison Wheeler 19 rush (Noah Aeppli kick), 8:21
BeS — Ashton West 5 rush (Aeppli kick), 4:03
Second Quarter
FF — Darian Mort 1 rush (Mort kick), 10:54
BeS — Brenton Krebs 78 kick return (Aeppli kick), 10:40
BeS — Wheeler 7 rush (Aeppli kick), 5:25
FF — Trystan Griffith 13 pass from Mort (Mort kick), 0:28
Third Quarter
BeS — Ashton West 4 rush (Aeppli kick), 5:05
Fourth Quarter
BeS — Devon Hodgen 56 pass from Chase Dull (Aeppli kick), 6:18
Team Statistics
_FF_BeS
First Downs _10 _17
Rushes-Yards _34 -118 _41-316
Passing _8-19-100 _ 1-4-56
Passing Yards _100 _56
Totals Yards _218 _372
Punts _4,19.5_1,24
Fumbles-Lost _ 1-0_1-1
Penalties _7-45_5-45
Individual Statistics
Rushing — Fairfield, Burnett 22-89 , Jake Irwin 4-11, Mort 8-18. Bermudian Springs, Devon Hodgen 11-136, Ashton West 15-56, Addison Wheeler 9-80 , Ryan Curfman 2-16, Brenton Krebs 3-19, Darren Beall 1-9.
Passing — Fairfield, Darian Mort 8-19-100-0, Bermudian, Chase Dull 1-4-56-0.
Receiving — Fairfield, Burnett 2-18, Stadler 2-30 , Angerett 2-34, Jake Irwin 1-13, Daniel Miller 1-5. Bermudian, Hodgen 1-56.