This young football season has been kind to the Berkshire Badgers.
Game photos click here.
This young football season has been kind to the Berkshire Badgers.
As they have moved out to a 3-1 record, they still have not put together a full game of successful efforts, but have gotten things done well when absolutely necessary.
In an old axiom that the team that finishes strongest in their games usually comes out on top, the Badgers have done well in that area. After a big start won the game for them last week in Conneaut, Sept. 13 saw them hosting a tough Trinity Trojan team — and for three periods and one play, Trinity had the upper hand on the Badgers.
Everything changed in the fourth period, however, as the Badgers came from behind to earn a thrilling 17-15 victory.
That one play came on the first play of the fourth period. The Trojans had full control of the game until they had a fourth down and goal to go at the Berkshire five yard line.
Up until that point, although unable to dominate the game, Trinity did have control most of the way. A fierce pass rush on this single play was stopped, however, and without generating much offense over the first three periods, a very motivated Badgers unit came out on the field.
Thirteen plays later, quarterback Sam Barcikoski rolled to his right and found tight end Abram Southern cutting to the middle of the end zone for a two-yard touchdown play. The duo repeated the action on the conversion play to give the Badgers a 14-7 lead.
Trinity wasted little time coming back. Led by Kaden Robinson and Aidan Duncon, the Trojans (1-3) regained the lead with 2:35 left in the game, and their successful conversion made the score 15-14 for the visitors.
To that point, Trinity had been the stronger team, using big hits on tackles and pass breakups to stop the Berkshire offense in its tracks. The Badgers, too, are a determined band of players, so they stayed close throughout the game, setting up the final period heroics.
After the scoring play from Duncan, Berkshire got the ball back with 2:32 left in the game, starting on their own 33. Pass completions by Barcikoski to Luke Stute, Oliver Miller and Nolan Morris set up a first and goal situation from the Trinity 5 yard line.
Linebacker Cordell Allen slammed Miller for a three-yard loss on first down, two incompletions set up a fourth-down play, and junior kicker Roman Percic, who earlier has missed a field goal and had an extra point try blocked, redeemed himself from 25 yards out with 34 seconds left to play for the win.
“This was some kind of defense that Trinity played tonight,” Berkshire Head Coach Josh DeWeese said. “We absolutely could not get our offense moving into their linebackers at all most of the night. It all came down to our kids just needing to dig deep within themselves to find ways to get things done.
“Our guys really didn’t want to lose this game, and it took a ton of grit inside themselves to do what they did in the fourth period. Once we stopped them to begin the last quarter, we were really energized, it showed, and the kids knew among themselves they could get things done.”
Trinity played superb defense against the Badgers all night. Several passes were on target from Barcikoski to his receivers, but hands broke them up. Barcikoski endured a 1-of-13 passing effort in the first half for 33 yards, but that one completion was to Stute on a perfectly thrown ball for a touchdown with 1:09 before halftime.
“We didn’t communicate too well in the first half,” Barcikoski said. “We talked more about what we needed to do in the second half, and we did much better at playing as a team in our assignments, too. Everybody stepped it up a couple notches.”
After the Percic field goal, Damonte McKenzie took the next kickoff down the left sideline, appearing to step out of bounds two or three times, but the officials did not acknowledge it. Rather, McKenzie was stopped at midfield with 223 ticks left on the clock. A personal foul penalty on Berkshire took the ball to the 38 yard line, and with the speed at several positions, Trinity still was not closed out.
Then came another huge defensive play for the Badgers. Sam Bable broke through the left side of the line of Trinity and chased Duncan down for a huge sack with 11 seconds to play.
“I just was determined to make that play for my team,” Bable said as everybody celebrated the victory.
The next play was broken up in the middle of the field. The Badgers had finished strong to claim their third win in four games this season, just how everybody draws it up.
Miller gained 60 yards on 20 tough carries to lead Berkshire’s ground game. The offense gained only 28 yards total in the first half, but tough defense kept Trinity from taking much advantage of that edge.
Barcikoski hit on eight of 26 passes for 149 yards and two scores, but a key was that nothing close to an interception happened as well. The incompletions were just from a great Trinity defense.
