HARBORCREEK – The Bradford High football season turned from
worse to over as the Owls actually lost two games on Friday
night.

Following the 28-3 non-league defeat to Stephen Blose and Harbor
Creek, the Owls learned next week’s Senior Day opponent will be a
no-show as Warren clinched a District 10 playoff berth with a 48-22
win over Erie East.

“Our season is over,” said Steve Ackerman, BHS head coach.
“Warren is going into the playoffs next week and now we don’t have
anybody to play. This ends our season.”

The evening was chocked full of bad news as the Owls were unable
to contain the floating-like-a-butterfly, stinging-like-a-bee moves
of Blose. The 5-8, 170-pound senior, who earlier this month set a
state record with 488 yards in one game, weaved and bobbed his way
through the Owls’ defense for 209 yards and four touchdowns.

“I thought we did a nice job on him (Blose) in the first half,”
Ackerman noted. “In the second half they (Huskies) lined up in the
power-I and he ran right at us and over us. We just couldn’t stop
him.”

The Owls took a 3-0 lead with 7:40 left in the first quarter on
a 36-yard field goal by Steve Butler that traveled halfway to the
Millcreek Mall. Bradford moved into field goal position on
first-down runs by Taylor O’Brien (20 yards), Nick Johnson (10
yards) and Josh Holleran (7 yards).

“We moved the ball very well between the 20s,” Ackerman
recalled. “Every time we got close we did not make a big play.”

The Owls’ fortune then took a turn for the worse early in the
second quarter when Blose rolled a 54-yard punt down to the 1.
Bradford had to punt from its own 7 and Harbor Creek gained
possession at the Owls’ 43.

A 40-yard pass from Josh McAnulty to Josh Voelker then set up
Blose’s three-yard scoring burst off left tackle and it was 6-3
with 5:35 remaining in the half.

“We let the punt roll and then they (Huskies) got great field
position,” Ackerman lamented. “Then we gave up the big pass play
after that.”

Following another Owls’ punt, the Huskies (5-4) went into their
two-minute mode and drove to the Bradford 7 with a 23-yard aerial
from McAnulty to Ryan Sheridan and a 23-yard jaunt by Blose.

On a third-and-goal from the 7, E.J. Moore sacked McAnulty for a
12-yard loss and Harbor Creek had to settle for a 36-yard field
goal by Blose with 4.2 seconds left for a 9-3 margin at the
intermission.

“Our defense did a decent job,” Ackerman stated. “They (Huskies)
were inside our 20 three times in the first half and only got a
field goal and a touchdown out of it.”

Blose had just 64 yards at the break, but then opened the third
stanza by carrying six times for 63 yards and a nine-yard touchdown
on the Huskies’ first possession.

Blose’s PAT was snuffed by Garrett McEwen, but it was 15-3 with
8:05 showing.

The Owls then started at their own 20 and moved out to the 34 on
a middle screen from Ben Walter to Holleran.

Facing a fourth-and-nine from their 35, Bradford faked the punt
and O’Brien took the direct snap to the Harbor Creek 41.

A 12-yard slant from Walter to Tommy Morris gave the Owls
another first down at the 27, but a two-yard run and three
incompletions killed the drive at the 25.

“We made a big play on the fake punt and we still came up
empty,” Ackerman declared.

The Huskies then marched to the Bradford 13, as Blose gained 51
yards on seven totes and McAnulty found Ben Sauer for another 17
yards.

Blose then left a gang of tacklers in his wake on a 13-yard
touchdown run. Blose missed a long extra point due to a 15-yard
infraction and it was 21-3 with 10:56 remaining in the game.

Later in the fourth quarter, at the Bradford 9, Blose seemed to
be stopped at the five, but pushed three Owls’ defenders into the
end zone. His PAT was good and itwas 28-3 with 4:47 left.

“We couldn’t make a play in the second half,” Ackerman
confessed. “I thought it was the most physical we’ve been all year.
We made them fumble three times, but we couldn’t get a break. The
ball was on the ground three times and we couldn’t come up with any
of them.”

O’Brien rushed 10 times for 79 yards and Morris hauled in two
passes for 23 yards for the Owls, who appear to be done at 2-6.