Bobcats get defensive in win over Coloma

Published 10:42 am Friday, August 30, 2019

By Hannah Holliday

NILES — When Brandywine stepped onto the field in its home opener against Coloma High School, head coach Mike Nate had thought one of the team’s weaknesses was needing to improve defensively this season.

Yet, an experienced defense composed of senior Brock Prenkert with 15 tackles; junior Jacob Luczkowksi with 12 tackles, and senior Jordan Abrams with 11 tackles, helped seal the Brandywine 38-8 win over Coloma.

“Defense played great,” Nate said. “Only eight points on the board. The last game we played, we gave up, I don’t even want to say. The defense did a super job tonight and the defensive staff deserves a ‘great job.’”

In a similar fashion to last season, Brandywine came out strong scoring within the first three minutes of the game on a 39-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Gabriel Gouin to wide receiver, Shane Brown. Brandywine went for the two-point conversion on the play, but was stopped by Coloma.

Coloma would answer after receiving 20 free yards from three penalties called on the Bobcats — a facemask penalty and two off-sides calls on defensive plays.

With less than a minute remaining in the first quarter, Coloma scored on a 13-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Drew Goodline to wide receiver, Nathan Strunk.

Brandywine was back on the board with a second touchdown late in the first half on a two-yard run from Abrams, who in the first quarter made school history earning well beyond the required 25 yards to break the school record of 3,096 yards. The senior running back finished the night with 3,207 rushing yards.

“Again, I can’t say enough about Jordan,” Nate said. “He did a great job. He always does a great job. He earned that school record over the last four years, and it was a great performance tonight by him and everybody else. It was a team effort.”

The Bobcats’ defense continued to stop the running game of the Comets’ running back Kenyon Boyd, who finished with 95 on the ground.

With 37 seconds left until the half, a 20-yard touchdown pass from Gouin to wide receiver Jalen Briggs left Brandywine with a 14-point lead, 22-8.

In the third quarter, penalties plagued both squads, which Nate said was to be expected on opening night.

“We had a couple of scores called back,” he said. “We had a fumble roll through the end zone. It was a thoroughly dominating win by us tonight. The score could have even been worse than 38-8. We bounced back. We had a sluggish moment and that’s what good teams do.”

The sluggish moment came to a halt when Abrams scored a 17-yard run not even a minute into the final quarter. Seven minutes later, Abrams scored a 19-yard touchdown after taking a handoff from Gouin for his third score of the night.

Brandywine walked off the field with a win, a new sense of pride in their already strong offensive play, and now a possibly equally as strong defense.

“Huge win, great team effort,” Nate said. “Diversity came knocking. Everybody picked it up and we got the lead at halftime 22-8. Outstanding job by everybody.Coaches had them ready.”

The Bobcats will host Comstock in their BCS

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