The DuBois Beavers learned if you can’t beat them in the
mudwrestling pit you can’t beat them on the football field as
Bradford posted a 21-13 District 9 League victory on a mucky
Parkway Field on Friday.

Both teams were clad predominately in red and black in the
pregame warmups, but by the middle of the first quarter, brown was
the color du jour and the uniform numbers were strictly a rumor to
everyone in attendance.

“It was sloppy, but we both played on the same field,” said
Steve Ackerman, BHS head coach. “There are no excuses because we
both had to play in the same conditions.”

Winless DuBois (0-8, 0-5) threatened on its first possession of
the game with a drive from its own 27 to the Bradford 14, but the
12-play march ended there on an incompletion.

Two plays later from the 21, Taylor O’Brien broke a tackle at
the 35 and eluded another at the DuBois 38 on his way to a 79-yard
touchdown run. Steve Butler boomed the extra point halfway to
Mudville and it was 7-0 Owls with 2:53 left in the first
period.

“They (Beavers) were taking away the stuff we were trying to do
outside and he (O’Brien) hit a trap up the middle,” Ackerman
recalled. “He got some great blocks downfield by guys covered in
mud, but I believe it was E.J. Moore and Tommy Morris who threw
great blocks. Taylor just kept those little legs chomping and
things happened.”

Then from the Bradford 46 at the start of the second quarter, it
was O’Brien again proving he was a true mudder with a 54-yard blast
up the gut for the score. Butler again defied the gooey sod with
the PAT and it was 14-0 with 11:03 left in the half.

“It (touchdown) was the same exact thing as the first one,”
Ackerman noted. “He (O’Brien) is a strong kid and you can’t make
arm tackles on him. You have to square up and take him on to bring
him down. They (Beavers) didn’t and he broke two or three
tackles.”

Once again the Beavers drove deep into Bradford territory, but
on a fourth-and-one from the 8, a bunch of Owls in soiled shirts
halted DuBois for no gain.

DuBois then got its first break of the contest when Emile Khoury
intercepted a pass at the Bradford 28. Garrett Malmgren scored two
plays later on a 23-yard run around left end and D.J. Smith tacked
on the extra point to shave the disparity to 14-7 at the 3:50
juncture.

On a third-and-four from his own 38, Ben Walter’s next aerial
careened off a shoulder downfield and into the awaiting arms of the
Beavers’ Pat Lydic at the 30.

On a third down from the 14, QB Danny Henry fired over the
middle, and Malmgren made a one-handed catch at the 9 and took it
to the house. The holder couldn’t handle the slippery snap on the
ensuing PAT as DuBois stilled trailed 14-13 with 32 seconds
showing.

“We killed ourselves in the first half with turnovers,” Ackerman
confessed. “We didn’t make good decisions, and that falls on both
the coach and the quarterback. We put them right back in the game
with a short field twice in a row.”

When the Owls’ first possession of the third stanza stalled at
the DuBois 45, the saturated crowd witnessed the initial punt of
the game as the Beavers took over at their own 18.

DuBois earned four first downs and chewed up almost seven
minutes of clock with a 12-play march, but once again the Bradford
defense got down and dirty to stymie the threat at the 24.

A 17-yard run by O’Brien and the only penalty of the night (a
five-yarder) placed the pigskin at midfield for the Owls. Walter
then called his own number and raced 50 yards for the touchdown.
Butler’s kick was center cut to make it 21-13 with 9:34 left.

“We were hitting them with the down and then the scissors,”
Ackerman stated. “They (Beavers) started sucking in on it, so we
called the option. He (Walter) went around the corner and there was
nobody there.”

After the Beavers’ lone punt of the affair, a 16-yard jaunt by
O’Brien was good for one first down and an eight-yard gain by Moore
moved the chains to the DuBois 19. Butler then tried a
game-clinching field goal from 31 yards out, but the soup was too
chunky in that area and the attempt was blocked with 2:05
remaining.

The Beavers had one last gasp, but Moore took their breath away
with a pick at the 18. Two kneel-downs later, the 10 Bradford
seniors (Butler, Morris, Jim Milbrandt, Moore, Nick Foster, Josh
Britton, Alex Faucher, Mike Sloan, Jake Pude and Tyler Hopkins)
were walking across their home field as winners for the final
time.

“It was a great win for the seniors,” Ackerman declared. “We
were on an 0-2 slide and we needed to change everybody’s state of
mind. We were in a funk and we got out of it.”

The Owls (6-2, 4-1) travel to East Allegheny next Saturday (1
p.m.) for a non-league game.