When 6' and 200 lb Gabe Martin breaks through the line of scrimmage and bears down on a defensive back, that would be tackler has some decisions to make as they quickly contemplate their life choices.
 
There are several high school football players that are that size. There are a few high school football players that have track speed. There are a small handful of high school football players who love the physicality of football and seek out those kind of collisions on every play. There are no high school football players I've seen that combine all those attributes into one dynamic package the way Bridgeport's Gabe Martin does.
 
Speaking of defensive backs, I was on the Spring Mills' sideline for the second scrimmage this season. Gabe Martin had broken through the line, bore down on the Spring Mills safety, the safety stepped into Martin's path, and he got destroyed like a bug on an eighteen-wheeler's windshield. It was an epic collision, different than normal high school football collisions; the crack of pads was louder, sharper, and elicited a, wow, to anyone watching, even from the Spring Mills team.
 
The Spring Mills db got up and struggled to the sideline. One of the Spring Mills' coaches approached the player, and, with a smile on his face, said, "If you are going to try to tackle a player like that, you better go low or you are going to get hurt". In discussing Gabe's style of play with his teammates, they all love playing with him because he brings that physicality every game. In response, Martin said, "It feels good, but it allows me to know I've got to set the tone and I can't take a play off because they are looking at me to set the tone and be the example".
 
Bridgeport High School football fans have been treated to those tone-setting moments for what seems like many years. Gabe Martin led the team in tackles when he was only a sophomore during the '24 season. That was not just any team, that was, arguably, the greatest team in Bridgeport football history, stocked with kids that would, or could have played at the collegiate level, a team that decimated the competition so thoroughly that in every game there was a second half running clock. That a sophomore led that team of outstanding players in tackles needs to be remembered. Gabe Martin is a special player and I'm already dreading showing up next year to the first Bridgeport scrimmage with some other kid wearing number 21. I hope Bridgeport football fans enjoy these last eight (hopefully) games of Gabe Martin's high school career.
 
The focus is on this year. Thankfully, Martin talked about the Spring Valley game this Friday; he said, "They're a physical team. Offensively, they are a lot like Fort Hill, I don't think they have the roster to be able to pass as well as Fort Hill did, but they have some physical linemen and kids that can really run the ball, bigger kids and slippery kids. We've got to step on it and can't let off the gas like we did last week".
 
Gabe Martin's focus for the remainder of the season is, "a lot of hunger and (attention) on the details, when we are a team that works together and when we are a team that goes out and puts it on teams we are a great team, but details, the little things about our defense and the little things about our offense are causing bigger issues in the long run".
 
His message to the team with four games left in the regular season and with a tough Spring Valley team coming to Bridgeport is, "Give it everything you've got, don't take anything for granted, you never know when your last snap can be. Like last year, I was fine one play, and the next play I was out for the rest of the season. You never know when it can end, and you never want to have a regret that you didn't give everything you had, leave it all out on the field".
 
The second half of the regular season has started; the question remains: can the Indians address those weaknesses that have been exposed with tough games against Martinsburg and Fort Hill? Can they focus on and execute those small details that have resulted in negative results? That will be the deciding factor in whether we will be watching our Bridgeport Indians play past Thanksgiving.





DOUG MARQUETTE IS A GUEST BLOGGER AND MEMBER OF THE ALL SPORTS BOOSTERS