RONALD KLOSS

Bradford High’s hopes for an unbeaten season are gone.

The Owls found out last week that, more often than not, there’s
always somebody out there who can give you a bloody nose no matter
how big and tough you may think you are.

The fact that it was Brookville that pushed Bradford around was
no surprise because the Blue Raiders have always been a thorn in
the Owls’ side since they came into the District 9 League.

What was a surprise, was the lopsidedness of the score. The Owls
have always taken pride in their defense and last Friday night they
had no answer for the Blue Raiders.

Bradford scored some points, but also made some costly mistakes
that nullified one touchdown on offense, and another on a kickoff
return.

Now the question becomes can the Owls regroup and get it
together for Friday night’s meeting with the Central Mountain
Wildcats in the second game of their three-game home stand.

“Brookville took advantage of the opportunities we gave them and
we made mistakes when Brookville afforded us some opportunities,”
Bradford head coach Steve Ackerman said during his weekly interview
Wednesday night. “Our mistakes cost us and they didn’t make very
many mistakes.

“That, I would say, was the game in a nutshell,” he added.

On a more positive note, Ackerman was quick to agree that one
loss, especially at this point on the schedule, doesn’t make a
season.

“We got our ears pinned back and we lost our unbeaten season. It
wasn’t fun, but there are still a lot of our goals out there,” he
emphasized. “The kids looked at the film and know what they did
wrong. We have to correct our mistakes, pick it up and go from
here. We’ve just got to get better.

“The kids have worked hard this week in practice. They’re paying
a little more attention to detail now, which is always a good
thing. We’ll see where it takes us on Friday,” he added.

Central Mountain, making its first appearance on Bradford’s
schedule, opened its doors in 1999 and is located near Lock
Haven.

The school is the consolidation of three other high schools,
Bald Eagle Nittany, Lock Haven and Sugar Valley.

The Wildcats’ first football season was in 1999 when they posted
a record of 4-6 under head coach Mike Packer.

Packer also guided the team to its only winning season, 2000,
when the Wildcats were 7-5 and were the District 6 Class AAAA
runners-up.

Current head coach Steve Turchetta took over the program in
2001. His team was 3-7 that season, 3-7 in 2002, 4-7 in 2003, 4-6
in 2004 and 3-7 last season.

The Wildcats will bring a 3-3 record into the game against
Bradford and Ackerman has plenty of respect for his opponent.

“Central Mountain plays some decent competition,” he cautioned.
“They’re also a pretty big team and they’ve got some speed on the
outside.

“They are an option team on offense and will run it out of all
kinds of different sets. Their fullback is a big strong kid and
their tailback has some speed. The quarterback runs well and they
have a nice little short passing game.

“Defensively, they use some different formations. They’ll run a
straight 4-3 and then a 5-2 with their two other linebackers
dropping back for pass protection. I don’t know just what we’ll see
because of the way we run the ball,” he explained.

Wednesday night, Turchetta pointed out that Bradford’s loss last
week doesn’t mean much.

“From everything we’ve heard about them and read, we expect to
run into a very good football team,” he explained. “They are very
disciplined and have a good program year in and year out.”