GAME PHOTOS: http://smu.gs/2dmGPj9
After spending a couple rough weeks playing on the road and getting thumped, the Berkshire Badgers returned to Dr. William A. Reed Field Friday night to celebrate their own Homecoming Weekend against the Fairport Skippers.
The night air was festive, with a load of pageantry before the game and at halftime. And the Badgers enjoyed themselves, too, running up a 42-0 lead after three periods before the Skippers took advantage of a Badger fumble early in the fourth quarter.
Final score: 42-6.
“We still made too many mistakes tonight, especially the penalties,” said Berkshire coach Josh DeWeese. “The penalties really killed us again tonight. That is something that comes from playing immature football at the wrong moments. We will just have to get back at it in practice and work on that. I truly believe that you are, as a team, the way you practice during the week. We did some things much better tonight, but there is still a lot of work to do.”
Berkshire struck early and often.
After a short punt set up the offense at the Skipper 42 yard line, a pass gained 15 yards, and Will Blechschmid used two carries to go the last 27 yards. After an exchange of possessions, Jared Hinkle went 40 yards for the second score of the night, and in the second quarter, Joe Hauser found Blechschmid from 17 yards out for a solid 21-0 lead at the half.
With things seemingly well in hand for Berkshire, Josh Espinosa and Anne Ritts were crowned Homecoming King and Queen.
Of the apparent recovery of the Badgers after two straight lopsided losses, Blechschmid summed things up well: “Those were two solid teams we played the last two weeks after beating Harvey in our opener, and maybe we got a little big-headed about our talents. We didn’t like what had happened, though, so we worked harder and played well tonight.”
The tone for the rest of the night was set quickly in the third quarter. Berkshire navigated 58 yards in just three plays, with Joe Hauser finding Jacob Young, one of those who migrated to Berkshire from Ledgemont last year, from 43 yards out. Young out-jumped a defender at the 15, broke three tackles while keeping his feet active, and reached paydirt. Blechschmid worked his magic on the next possession, taking a punt right up the gut and breaking to the outside for a 60 yard punt return score.
Then Nick Hunt separated the Skipper runner from the ball shortly thereafter, Josh Hauser recovered at the midfield stripe, and Blechschmid took the ball all the way on the next play to seal the Skippers’ fate to the running clock.
Blechschmid led the opportune offense for Berkshire with 149 yards on just eight carries. Joe Hauser completed seven of 11 passes for 160 yards.
The penalties were the only real blemish on the Badger ledger.
“This was good because we got momentum early and kept it,” Blechschmid said.
Hunt played a big game defensively for Berkshire.
“I’ve loved playing defense all my life,” the senior said. “We hadn’t been playing as well as we should, but tonight we were more solid in our focus.”
Lineman Riley Carey was huge, both literally and figuratively, on both sides of the ball for the Badgers.
“We made a lot of stupid mistakes the last two weeks,” he said. “We just got tired of losing, though. We got some things done much better tonight, but we still didn’t do as well as we need to, so we’ll work hard on that in practice next week.”
It was also a homecoming of sorts for Fairport assistant coach Joe LaRosa. Love and hugs were passed around before and after the game by several of his former players at Ledgemont. Tears trickled, small talk abounded, and the whole Berkshire community had a lot to be happy about, as well, as the Badgers improved to 2-2 on the season.
GAME PHOTOS: http://smu.gs/2dmGPj9