Offensively or defensively, take your pick because Bradford was
impressive on both sides of the ball last Friday night against
archrival Olean.

The Owls got their passing game going on offense and recorded
their 42nd shutout of the series on defense.

Wednesday night during his weekly interview, head coach Steve
Ackerman couldn’t been happier with his defense.

“Getting our 42nd shutout is a pretty impressive stat for
Bradford football,” he stated. “That’s out of the 60 games that
we’ve won. It really says something about our defense.”

Leading that defense were linemen Britt Bookhamer and Rob Pire
and linebacker Taylor O’Brien.

“Bookhamer just had one of those games. He had 10 tackles, three
quarterback sacks and three running back sacks. So 60 percent of
his tackles were for losses.

“He spent a lot of the night in their backfield and Olean could
not run to the left side because of him,” Ackerman pointed out.
“Rob Pire also had another 10-tackle game.”

“When two of your defensive linemen come up big in tackles, and
you get that kind of work from your front four, good things are
going to happen.

“Taylor O’Brien also did a great job Friday night. He read his
keys, stepped in and filled the hole,” Ackerman added.

On offense, Bradford showed future opponents that it can throw
the ball, with junior quarterback Ben Walter hitting all seven of
his passes for 113 yards.

Overall the Owls were perfect on the night going 8-for-8, the
eighth completion being holder Jim Milbrandt’s three-yard toss for
a two-point conversion.

“Now our passing game will give teams down the road something to
think about,” Ackerman emphasized. “Ben had a nice game and our
receivers Tommy Morris, Nick Foster and Tyler Hopkins all had a big
night.”

The Owls are 2-0, but Ackerman isn’t concerned with the record
at this point because there are still nine opponents remaining on
the schedule.

“I’m pleased with where we are at, but I don’t want us to get
complacent. I tell the kids that we just want to go out and get
better every week. We’re fitting the puzzle together one piece at a
time.”

The Owls are healthy and will get junior Alex Goodman back after
he injured a shoulder against Clearfield in the first game.

“Alex didn’t play last week, but he’s back and ready to go,”
Ackerman noted.

Bradford will need to be at full strength because Punxsutawney
has suddenly erupted onto the scene as a formidable opponent,
especially after upsetting DuBois (21-20) last week.

“Punxsy is not a bad team,” Ackerman explained. “Blake (Moilan,
head coach) is doing a nice job with them. They have some
enthusiasm and they got a great win over DuBois last week.”

The Chucks will be a handful.

“They’re a little bigger than us across the front, and they play
the run very well They shut down both Bellefonte’s and DuBois’
running games, so it will be a challenge for our offensive line,”
said Ackerman.

“I’m sure beating DuBois has gotten the people in Punxsy
excited, so this has become a big game for them.

“Friday night they will want to send a message so that’s No. 1,
and No. 2, we want to keep our train rolling along. Something will
have to give,” he concluded.