The Bethel Bees football team, coming off of a 22-21 victory the previous week against Twin Valley South, hoped to carry over some of that momentum into their matchup against the National Trail Blazers on Homecoming Night. Both Bethel and National Trail held a record of 3-4 before the meeting and certainly would rather sit at an even 4-4 than end the contest against their Cross County Conference opponent remaining with a losing record. Bethel’s offense unleashed all of their arsenal for a 72-15 victory.
The Bees showed early in the game they were intent on getting their running attack rolling against the National Trail defense. On their fourth play from scrimmage Bethel’s quarterback Jacob Evans kept the ball himself and outran the defense down the right sideline for a 52 yard touchdown. It would be the first of many scores on the night for the Bees.
The quarterback read-option attack proved difficult for the National Trail defense to stop, as wide open running lanes were abundant for Evans and his cohort in the backfield Josh Wills. After a fumble recovery on the next National Trail possession, the Bees offense went on a twelve play drive down the field, capped off with another Jacob Evans touchdown run giving the Bees an early 14-0 lead over the Blazers. Running back Josh Wills later kept the first quarter scoring going for Bethel as he burst through the defense for a 35 yard touchdown run followed by a Noah Burrowes two point conversion making the score at the end of one quarter 22-0 in favor of the home team.
Bethel’s defense played well in the game, pressuring the National Trail offense and making big plays all over the field. Three recovered fumbles to go along with a Cameron Brown interception in the end zone helped Matt First, Ian Anderson, Stetson Peake, Daryle Wilson and a host of others on the Bee’s defense to hold the National Trail tough running game in check and allow just 15 total points scored. After giving up a second quarter touchdown to National Trail’s running back Ben Sullivan, the Bees weren’t discouraged, on the ensuing kick-off Bethel’s Josh Wills returned the kick 70 yards for his second touchdown. Wills was not finished, his quick burst running style gashed the Blazers defense throughout the contest as he later scored three more rushing touchdowns to give him a total of five touchdowns on the night.
With the score 51-15 at the end of the third quarter, the Bee’s second quarterback Jacob Ullmer ran a keeper 80 yards down the sideline for a score, making the late lead 58-15 after the Erica Turner extra point was good. Turner was successful on all eight extra point attempts in the contest. The Bees scoring was still not over with under five minutes left in the game as Noah Burrowes recovered a fumble on defense and then got the hand off and ran in a 20 yard touchdown on the Bees’ offensive possession. With the score 65-15, Bethel had the Blazers pinned back deep in their own territory looking to punt, but Tyler Terry broke through the line and caught the deflected punt and ran into the end zone to end the impressive night for the Bees with a 72-15 victory.
Bethel Bees head coach, Scott Clodfelter was pleased with his team’s result and will look to keep the momentum moving forward, “We played very well, and offensively it was the best performance we’ve had. I feel like we are starting to click, and hopefully we can finish strong. Ending the season with a winning record is the goal.” Coach Clodfelter and his Bethel Bees will look to improve their record next against Ansonia.
