Bridgeport High School Indians

If you are a fan of either the Bridgeport Indians or RCB Eagles football teams and chose not to attend the Friday contest because you expected another Indian stomping of the Flying Eagles, you might feel justified when you go online or pick up the paper and see the 49-7 score.
 
If that's the case, you missed a very entertaining game. Ultimately, the contest was decided by three critical interceptions by the Eagles, Bridgeport's offensive and defensive lines' aggressive play, the battering ram that is Gabe Martin running the ball on offense and bringing pain from his linebacker position on defense, and pinpoint passing (yes, I said passing) by the Indians," Graham Vincent.
 
Coach Tyler Phares summed up the contest by saying, "We were definitely locked in today, a few mistakes there, but aggressiveness, going after people, I really thought the kids got after it." He went on to say about his team, "Those kids, especially on the offensive and defensive lines, got after it tonight".
 
For much of the first half, this was anyone's contest. Byrd won the toss, elected to defer, and the Indians took the opening kickoff and drove the length of the field behind the punishing runs of Gabe Martin. He drove the Indians into Byrd territory where they faked a run, and Graham Vincent hit Eli Knight in stride for a 32-yard touchdown pass for the first score of the game.
 
In response, behind the running and receiving of Byrd's Junior Smith, the Flying Eagles got into the Indians' red zone. Smith, who ended the game with 8 catches for 118 yards and three rushes for 27 yards and the only Byrd touchdown, was a problem throughout the game for the Indians defense. About Smith, Coach Phares said, "We rallied to the football; we talk about that every day in practice: sprint to the ball and tackle. He (Smith) made some nice plays, had some nice cuts; he would make one person miss, but there were three more red hats there, and that's what you want out of your defense".
 
Unfortunately for Byrd, their first drive ended with an interception at the goal line by Gabe Martin, which was a pattern that repeated itself and kept the Eagles from making this a closer contest. The Indians went up 14-0 behind the legs of Martin and Vincent. Byrd answered with a 6 play drive highlighted by the play of Junior Smith catching and running. He scored on an 18-yard jet sweep to make it 14-7 and it was anyone's game.
 
Bridgeport answered with a lengthy drive of their own. On 4^th and 2 from the Byrd 7 yard line the Indians' Martin was inches short of the marker to make it, and they turned the ball over on downs, which put the Byrd stands into a frenzy. That enthusiasm was short-lived. On Byrd's very next play from their own 5 yard line, Heflin tried to force it to Smith, and Gabe Martin picked him off. This time the Indians would not be stopped, and Martin took the rock and scored from 6 yards out to make the score 21-7 and give Bridgeport's Homecoming crowd some breathing room.
 
Once again the, late in the second quarter, Byrd's offense, behind contested catches by Junior Smith drove the length of the field and was at the doorstep to climbing back into the game. RCB had won the opening coin toss and had deferred so a touchdown there would make it a one score game and they would receive the opening second half kickoff, giving them a chance to tie it. All that went up in smoke when the Byrd's Heflin threw his third interception at the goal line to Bridgeport's Sean Veltri. Bridgeport started deep in their zone with only three and a half minutes left in the quarter and two timeouts to go the length of the field.
 
Behind the rushing of Martin, Vincent, and a lighting bolt dash on a wing around by sophomore Troy Jackson (ended the game 2 carries for 53 yards) for 28 yards to get the Indians into Byrd territory, the Indians punched in the final score of the first half with 16 seconds to spare making it a 28-7 game and sending the visitors to their locker room with thoughts of what could have been. Byrd played better than to be behind three touchdowns at half.
 
In the second half the Indians started to assert themselves, especially in the trenches. Led by senior tackle Tristan Noble, they began harassing Heflin and took away space for Smith. The Indians stopped Byrd on downs on that first drive of the second half. Then on a beautifully conceived and blocked play that looked like Bridgeport's buck lateral sweep, Vincent received the toss from the upback, but instead of running around the end hit a wide open Sean Veltri for a 32 yard touchdown strike. The extra point by Jalen Brown, who was perfect on the night, made the score 35-7 and the rout was on.  
 
The Indians forced the Eagles to punt on their next possession and once again the Indians drove into Byrd territory. That drive ended on another Vincent touchdown pass, this one for 25 yards to Aiden Gorby. Vincent ended the game 3 for 4 passing for 93 yards and three touchdowns and 12 tough carries for 58 yards. About the do-everything Vincent, coach Phares said, "we can rely heavily on him because of his ability to understand the game. Offensively, he takes care of the ball and can distribute it all around the field, and he's shown himself to be a very capable runner. Defensively, he's our leader on the back end, he's gotten much better at coverage and has become a physical tackler. Tyler went on, "special teams he is our punt returner because of his sure hands and he is the holder for field goals and extra points".
 
After the game, Coach Phares gushed about the play of Gabe Martin, who ended the game with 14 bruising carries for 115 yards, two key interceptions, and, once again, led the team in tackles, "Gabe is just a football player; he can block he can run, he can do all the little things. He's hard-nosed and tough; we know he is going to step up and make plays even though their (Byrd's) team is keying on everything he's doing. It's awesome to watch him make something out of nothing even when it's not there. What a ballplayer.  
 
Byrd brought the fight to this entertaining game, only to be undone by their own mistakes and a better Indian team. But the intensity and fight they displayed, opposed to the last handful of contests against the Indians, leads you to believe this could be a rivalry again in the future.
 
Now Bridgeport sets their sights on an away game in Cumberland, Md against a very good 4-0 Fort Hill team. Coach Phares said about them, "Fort Hill is very good, they block and tackle, we pride ourselves on blocking and tackling as much as anyone in the state and they do the same thing in Maryland. They are a really good, physical football team. It will be their wing T versus (our) single wing, they believe in the same things we believe in".