Errors aside, BHS ‘D’feats West in 3OT
BEARDEN — Last season, Bearden needed a couple of weeks before learning how to overcome costly mistakes and still win.
For example, in last year’s season opener at Knoxville West, the Runnin’ Rebels used a 46-yard touchdown pass with only seconds remaining to pull out a 14-10 win.
But late breakdowns a year later against those same guys along Southerland Avenue, in the final seconds of regulation and in the second of three overtimes, wouldn’t prevent the Dawgs from ultimate victory versus their rival nemesis this time. It would be a 31-24 BHS win against the two-time defending Division I-5A state champs in a season-opening thriller Saturday night, Aug. 24, at BHS’s Bill Young Field.
“We battled; it dang sure wasn’t pretty tonight, but we’re 1-0 and they put it in the win column,” BHS head coach Josh Jones said. “As coaches, you want it to look a lot better and more cleaner. I’ve got to coach better, prepare our guys better, but we’re 1-0.”
The Dawgs defense, strong throughout most of the game, was especially tough at critical moments in the third quarter and early in the fourth — not to mention holding West to 3 points in three OT possessions, each starting at the BHS 10.
Forcing three West fumbles, Bearden got the first one in the end zone when senior defensive back Ethan Couvertiere returned his scooped fumble 23 yards on the game’s first play from scrimmage.
“Oh, our defense, man, that’s what kept us in the game,” Jones said. “… Defense, man, they battled and battled and bowed their back and bowed their back.
“I couldn’t be more proud.”
Senior linebacker Kai Ironside was among the top Dawg defenders.
“It’s really about what our coaches have put into us, a mindset of effort and never give up, even when you’re down, even when you’re hurt,” Ironside said. “It’s just giving your all because it’s like, ‘I’m doing it for the brothers next to us. I know he’s going to give it all.’
“All we did was trust our team, and you saw us give it all,” he added.
A fumble recovery, which negated a West interception just three plays before, set up Bearden for William Pendergrass’ 37-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead with 2:15 left in the first quarter. Another Pendergrass field goal, this one 36 yards, made it 13-0 just eight seconds into the second quarter
But the Runnin’ Rebels bounced back quickly, putting together their best drive of the game by going 77 yards to score, mostly on the ground but including a 20-yard completion.
The Dawgs reached midfield on their next possession before a perfect deep strike from sophomore quarterback D.J. Hunter was simply dropped in the end zone. Two plays later, a punt snap was way too high, and West took over at the BHS 15. Two plays later, the visitors led 14-13.
It stayed that way until a pair of short-yardage stops by the Bearden defense — fourth-and-1 at the BHS 46 (Ironside tackle) and third-and-1 at the West 19 (Couvertiere tackle). The latter, followed by a 20-yard punt return, placed the Dawgs at the West 31.
Six plays later, junior back Jayzon Thompson scored from 6 yards out, and with Hunter’s 2-point conversion pass to senior receiver Drew Parrott, Bearden led 21-14 with 9:43 to play in regulation. “We had to overcome a lot of adversity, but we overcame it and we came out of here with a ‘W’ against West,” Hunter said. “We haven’t done that in six years.”
Though the Maroon and Gray defense got an immediate three-and-out stop, the Dawgs gave it away: a fumbled punt near midfield was recovered by the Runnin’ Rebs. Five plays later, on a 7-yard run, the game was tied 21-21 with 3:28 left.
Bearden drove to the West 16 in the closing seconds, but Jones called a bootleg roll right pass option play on third down, which West intercepted with just 21 seconds left.
“I tried everything I could do for us not to win, it seems like; I just couldn’t make the right decision,” Jones said about that ill-fated pass with a short game-winning field goal available. “It seemed like I put our quarterback in a bad spot there. Late in regulation, I shouldn’t have done that.”
Trading field goals in the first overtime — with the Dawgs defense stopping West on third-and-goal at the 3 when a TD would win it for the visitors — a hit by Bearden’s Ethan Hill and fumble recovery meant a field goal would win the game for BHS in overtime No. 2.
But driving to the West 1, the 17-yard game-winning field goal didn’t happen: a low snap was bobbled and a pass into the end zone was off target.
But Bearden scored the eventual winning TD on a third-and-3 run up the middle from big senior Torian Riggins to begin OT No. 3. With the extra point it was 31-24. “I was just being a team player, waiting my time,” Riggins said. “When I got it, I took it in.”
Forced back to the BHS 18 by a fumbled snap plus an illegal motion penalty, West saw a fourth-down pass into the end zone fall incomplete.
And the Runnin’ Rebs’ streak of consecutive wins in this series, six, was broken.
