BRIDGEWATER, Va. – The Bridgewater College football team picked up a thrilling 22-21 victory over Shenandoah at home.
The game opened with a pair of highlight reel plays. Sean perry busted open for a 48-yard return on the opening kickoff and broke into Eagles' territory at the 39-yard line. The first play from scrimmage handed the ball right back to BC as
Eli Rucker batted down a pass to the right side and caught it off his own deflection for the interception.
The following BC drive went nowhere, and the Hornets drove into Bridgewater territory, but a big stop in the back field by Rucker along with a stop by he and
TJ Lowery on fourth down gave the Eagles the ball back.
The teams traded punts as the defenses looked to be in control until just past the quarter break as a Jalen Redfearn 15-yard carry put SU in business. The Hornets rode Redfearn down the field until a short out route to Michael Sheil from Steven Hugney equated in a SU touchdown. The point after made it 7-0 SU with 9:31 to go in the half.
The Eagles next series got off to a slow start, but a
Brendan Robinson 54-yard rush all the way down to the two-yard line on third down put the offense in business. Two plays later,
Jaicere Bateman connected with
Jacob Perdue in the back of he endzone for the score to get BC on the board. The Eagles weren't done there as the fake PAT saw
Freddie Watkins hit
Kyle Beck for the two-point play to give the Eagles an 8-7 lead.
Bridgewater's defense forced a three-and-out on the next SU series and the offense tried to capitalize before the half, but ultimately stalled out sending the game to the break at an 8-7 Eagle lead.
BC got the ball out of the half and drove down the field, but ultimately turned it over on downs in Su territory. The Hornets got the ball back and erupted on a 48-yard pitch and catch on a broken play from Hugney to Sheil down t the BC one-yard line. The Hornets were stopped behind the line on their first attempt to punch it in, but a short pass by Hugney gave the Hornets a 14-8 lead following the PAT.
Shenandoah forced a fumble on the next BC drive and started marching down the field through the quarter break. Redfearn found the endzone from five yards out to make it 21-8 after the kick with 14:38 to play.
With their backs to the wall, the Eagles went to work. BC methodically worked its way down the field highlighted by a 20-yard strike from Bateman to
Cedric Drumgoole to move he chains and get deep inside SU territory. The Hornets forced the Eagles to third down and goal to go, but a scramble by Bateman from five yards out got BC the score. The Eagles were unable to get the point after as a bad snap forced BC to fall on it and trail by a score.
Shenandoah got the ball back with 10:04 to go and started to work down the field before a sack by
Demarco Fleming put SU behind the chains at the BC 35-yard line. Shenandoah did not have a penalty up until this point as a delay of game backed SU up and then a false start made it third down and 28 from their own side of the 50. Hugney looked down field and had nowhere to go and was forced to scramble and had plenty of daylight ahead. The senior quarterback appeared to have gotten the 28 yards needed, but a holding penalty brought the play back to a third down and 12. Hugney looked to scramble again as his downfield options were covered, but this time Oscar Whitey wrapped him up for the sack forcing a punt.
The Eagles had 5:11 to work with and some precise passing from Bateman set the offense in motion. The offense was clicking and a 20-yard connection from Bateman to Watkins got the Eagles to the SU six-yard line at the tow-minute timeout. The Eagles lost seven yards on the first goal-to-go play, but a completion to Drumgoole got the Eagles back to the four-yard marker. The third down pass fell incomplete hinging the game on a fourth down and goal with 27 seconds left. The teams exchanged timeouts and then play was set. Bateman took the snap out of the shot gun and evaded pressure just enough to hit
Jamel Johnson on the inside slant for the score. There was no hesitation from head coach
Scott Lemn on the sideline as he instantly signaled to go for the two-point conversion to potentially win the game. The two sides exchanged timeouts again and the play was on. Bateman evaded a blitz again from the Hornets and connected with Johnson over the middle again, this time for two and to give the Eagles a 22-21 lead with 23 seconds to go.
Perry got the ensuing kickoff and gave the Hornets a shot as his big return gave SU a start just on its side of the 50, but only with 14 seconds to go. Hugney's first pass was incomplete with eight seconds to go and BC called a timeout to get the prevent unit on the field. SU elected to go underneath the coverage on the next play and connected for a short gain, but still seemed far away at the BC 39-yard line with a few seconds to go. The Hornets came out of their final timeout in field goal formation from 55 yards out despite the Eagles originally lining up in prevent again. Scott Martin's kick had no chance as Rucker batted it down at the line of scrimmage and
Andrew Brown fell on it as time expired to seal the deal.
The Eagles were led by the performance of their starting QB. Bateman was 29-of-38 passing for two touchdowns in the air and 253 yards. The ground performance from Bateman was stellar as well as he found the endzone once. Robinson led BC in rushing with 80 yards on the ground. Drumgoole was the leading receiver for the Eagles with 93 yards on 10 targets.
Rucker led the defense on the highlight plays with the game-opening pick and the game sealing field goal block, but the entire Eagles defense pitched in was
Jaelan Mathews and
TJ Lowery each had 10 tackles on the night. Fleming had just three stops, but two were tackles for loss.
The Eagles win sets up a highly anticipated clash of ODAC unbeatens as the crew travels to Ashland to battle Randolph-Macon on Saturday
