UPDATED: Brandywine moves closer to BCS Blue title
Published 10:00 am Saturday, September 22, 2018
NILES — A change of seasons are pretty typical around this time of year.
This includes football seasons as the past two years the Bobcats fell victim to a usually difficult Lake Michigan Catholic football team.
This season is different, however, as Brandywine showed from the first play of scrimmage to the final horn as they knocked off LMC 60-6, leaving the Bobcats (3-2; 2-0) one win away from clinching the BCS Athletic Conference Blue Division.
“We didn’t have a great start to the week practice wise but things started to click by Wednesday and it showed we came ready to play,” Nate said about his team’s preparation.
“We don’t change much. In the short term we wanted to handle LMC, but in the long term we are looking at getting six wins, making the playoffs, and winning a playoff game. We just have to continue to take opponents one game at a time.”
LMC (1-4; 0-1) is statistically having one of the worst football seasons in school history, only scoring 18 total points through five games.
Brandywine received the football to start the game and on the very first play from scrimmage, sophomore running back Robert Gordon took a pitch 65-yards to the end one to put the Bobcats up 7-0.
The Bobcats didn’t stop there.
After a botch snap from LMC lead to the punter taking an unintentional knee at their own 22-yard line, Brandywine took advantage of the short field that was capped off by a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Bryce Mclane to put Brandywine up 13-0.
Gordon’s second carry of the night resulted in a 72-yard touchdown run after breaking three tackles and making swift moves to cut to the right side of the field.
Before the first quarter ended, junior running back Jordan Abrams took a 79-yard run up the gut to knock the wind out of the Lakers’ sail.
Gordon finished with just five carries for 202 yards and three touchdowns while Abrams finished with seven carries for 113 yards and two touchdowns.
“We have a lot of athleticism on our offensive line. Ty (Mickiewicz) was a quarterback on the JV last year and is now pancaking people at left tackle. Chase Valade was a tight end and now is on the line. (Cameron) Barrier was a quarterback at Niles but when he moved here he is now playing the line,” Nate said. “A lot of credit to our backs is that the players we have on that line were once at skilled positions and they are humble enough to fill in for us where we need them and they have done a hell of a job with our development.”
Daiden Shaw led the Lakers with 117 all-purpose yards.
Brandywine will go on the road all the way to Elnora, Indiana to face North Daviess (2-4) Friday night.
“Our motto will remain the same,” Nate said about how to prep for their next opponent. “We will enjoy this victory for about 24 hours then we will prepare the best we can for North Daviess. Only difference to our preparation is we will be on a bus for four and a half hours but we’re not going down there for a field trip. We’re going down there to win a football game.”
The game will kick off at 8 p.m.