BRIDGEWATER, Va. – The Bridgewater College football team picked up a 63-7 victory over Averett on Saturday in front of a packed Jopson Athletic Complex on Homecoming.
 
The Eagles defense opened the game with a three-and out and set the tone early without allowing a yard on the opening series. Tate Leach had a length 28-yrd return to give the Eagles a short field to work with. The Eagles faced a fourth down early in the series, but a 27-yard run by Jaicere Bateman gave the Eagles the first down and more. Bateman struck again, but in the form of a pass to Wyatt Jervis from 15 yards out for a touchdown to make it 7-0 after the Hendren kick.
 
The AU offense was able to get a first down on the next series, but a pass break up by Eli Rucker stalled out the Cougar offense giving the ball back to BC. The Eagles drove right down the field fueled by another long rush from Bateman and a 15-yard strike from the sophomore QB to Kyle Beck on the opening play of the drive. Bateman and Beck connected again from 13 yards out just before the end of the quarter to make it 14-0 after the Jack Hendern PAT.
 
Averett was able to get the ball back with a short field due to a failed onside kick and cashed in with an eight-yard rush by Santana Wooten for the score to cut the lead in half for the first points the Eagles have given up at home all year. BC wasted no time in responding as the kickoff looked to be heading out of bounds but took a bounce back in play as Cedric Drumgoole scooped it up in what seemed to be a broken play at the start. Drumgoole scooped up the kick and started slicing his way through defenders as a big block from Brendan Robinson at the end of the return allowed him to make the 88-yard house call and make it 21-7 after Hendren's PAT.
 
The BC defense struck with its first takeaway on the next AU series as Joey Strong stepped up and picked off Ethan Ross' pass on third down and long to give BC the ball back. Bridgewater got stalled out in an interesting position and Hendren trotted out for a 46-yard field goal but missed it just left.
 
The Eagles got the ball back and added to the lead a few more times before the end of the half. BC drove down the field again as a Jervis 20-yard rush set the tone for the drive. Bridgewater got down inside the five and faced another fourth down, and Bateman came up big again with a two-yard rush for the touchdown. The sophomore struck again from two yards out on the next BC series for another rushing score to blow the game open at 35-7 with 30 seconds to go in the half. The BC special teams wanted to make another big play before the half and struck as Sam Shickel recovered an unforced AU fumble on the ensuing kick return to give BC the ball back deep in Cougar territory. Bateman and Drumgoole connected on the very net play for the 16-yard touchdown and made it 42-7 heading to the break.
 
The second half opened with a trade of punts and then a trade of interceptions as a Donald Brooks III pick sparked the next Eagle scoring drive. An explosive 20-yard rush by Bradyn Horacek started the drive and the ground game ended it as Samuel Dragovich called his own number on the zone-read inside the five for the touchdown. Hendren's PAT made it 49-7with under five minutes to go in the third.
 
Bridgewater's special teams wasn't done making noise in the fourth. Leach's second punt return of the day was a big one as he fielded a 50-yard punt from Mikhail Iakovlev at his own 35 and slowly weaved his way through traffic thanks to some massive blocks through the middle and a nifty move at the end of the play to cross the goal line and make it 56-7 after Hendren's kick.
 
The BC ground game continued to work away the second half and it eventually led to a late score as Horacek found the endzone from five yards away in the fourth to polish the scoring off.
 
Bateman only saw action for the first half, but made it count with 180 yards passing on 17-of-22 passing. The sophomore also tossed in 65 yards rushing with a pair of touchdowns to make it a total of five touchdowns on the day with his three in the air.
 
Drumgoole led the Eagles in receiving with 95 yards through the air and a touchdown. Bateman was the Eagles' leading rusher and Horacek tossed in 60 yards on the ground as well.
 
The BC defense had a day by committee. The Eagles allowed just 115 yards of total offense and limited the Cougars to just 1.2 yards per rush. The darkside allowed just 43 yards on the ground thanks to multiple TFL from Jalen Cunningham and TJ Lowery. The duo each tallied a sack as well as Cunningham led the Eagles with four total tackles along side Aason Moore and Jaelan Mathews.

The game marked the first time since Nov. 12, 2022 that the Eagles returned both a kick and a punt for a touchdown. BC had a 40-yard punt return from Dylan Maclachlan and a 90-yard kick return by Viante Tucker in that day's victory at Guilford. 

The 63 points adds to the hot start for Bridgewater when it comes to scoring. The Eagles' 219 points in five games this season is the most to open a season since the 2019 season. The Eagles went on to win the ODAC and make the NCAA Tournament during that eason.
 
The Eagles are back in action on Saturday night as Shenandoah visits in the first Saturday night game at Jopson since 2019 sponsored by Bojangles on Hal of Fame Weekend.