By HUNTER O. LYLE
BRADFORD, PA – Looking to snap a three game losing streak as well as give their homecoming crowd a reason to celebrate, the Bradford football team quite the opposite, losing to Punxsutawney 56-7.
Punxsy wasted no time setting the tone. After snubbing the Owls’ on their initial drive, the Chucks took over at their own 14. Despite being nearly an entire field away from the endzone, it took just one completed pass to Beau Thomas to clear the distance. Following a three-and-out drive from Bradford, Punxsy added to the scoreboard once again with a 56-yard run from Thomas, again on their first play of the possession. In the blink of an eye, the Owls found themselves down 14-0.
Nothing came easy for the Owls from there on out. Despite incremental gains and a few first downs, Bradford just couldn’t keep pace with the size and speed of the Chucks, who routinely punched holes through the offensive line to collapse play after play.
“The one-play drives killed us. Defensively, I didn’t get the team ready and that’s on me,” said Bradford head coach Jeff Puglio. “I have to figure out how to get this team ready to play the game. We come out flat, we don’t do anything that we practice and that’s on the head coach.”
Taking over after a fourth-and-four sack, the Chucks let off one final blow before the end of the first quarter. Their third drive of the game produced their third touchdown, again by Thomas, who carried the ball across the line from the six-yard-line.
While Bradford was able to hold the Chucks at bay at the start of the second, their offense still failed to gain any foothill. Their next two drives would end in an interception and a three-and-out punt. Punxsy, in the meantime, would score again on a single-snap drive, scoring a 37-yard rushing touchdown with six and a half minutes left in the half before putting up another seven point off a 80-yard touchdown rush four minutes later.
“We were looking for just one play and we couldn’t find it tonight. We couldn’t string anything together,” said Puglio.
While things were looking glum on the Owls’ sidelines, they were able to enter the halftime break on a high note. Getting the ball with just over two minutes left, Bradford’s hurry-up offense marched down the field with a fierce ground game. Making their way to the eight-yard-line, quarterback Talan Reese called his own number, bursting into the endzone with zeros remaining on the clock. At the end of two quarters, the Owls found themselves down 35-7.
Moving into the second half, the Chucks maintained their iron-clad hold on the game, scoring on their first two drives of the half once again. Down by 42 points, there was nothing left to do for the Owls but wait for the clock to empty. Finally relenting and accepting defeat, both sides put in their junior varsity lineups for some under-the-lights experience. Punxsy would go on to score one last time, producing a final score of 56-7.
Reese ended with 78 passing yards and a team-high 25 rushing yards that came with the Owls’ lone touchdown of the night. Brody Haviland had 24 rushing yards, Langdon had 18 rushing yards and an interception while Evan Whitmore led the defense with eight tackles.
“We have to focus on the fundamentals,” said Puglio. “It’s getting back to basics, playing with some passion and having a little fun. We’re not doing any of that right now and it’s like we’re frozen out there at times. I got to figure out how to get that out of them, because we can do it. We’ve shown we can do it in spurts this year. We just can’t string anything together.”
