The pre-season is for hoping and the regular season is
reality.

It’s that way no matter what sport you choose to labor in as a
coach.

Nearly two weeks ago, the Bradford Owls put the finishing
touches on a 7-2 regular season.

It wasn’t perfect because few are, but it certainly is a reason
to be pleased and that’s just how head coach Steve Ackerman
assessed the campaign.

“When the season started, I wasn’t really sure what to expect,
but I think we, the coaches, knew that we had something that could
be pretty special,” he said Thursday night.

The Owls lived up to their expectations right off the bat with a
lopsided victory over Clearfield in the season opener. The Bisons
have never been an easy opponent and there were a lot of games
where Bradford came out on the short end of the score.

But, on the first weekend in September the Bisons were no match
for the visitors who pretty much scored at will and were leading by
a comfortable 42-point margin when Ackerman called off the
“dogs”.

Clearfield put three touchdowns on the board late in the game to
make the score respectable.

That was a key first piece of the puzzle and the Owls added to
it in week two with a solid victory over archrival Olean followed
by wins over Punxsutawney, Warren and St. Marys for a 5-0
start.

Ackerman cautioned each week that it was just one more piece of
the puzzle and then came the shocking loss to Brookville. The Blue
Raiders have always been a thorn in Bradford’s side and this season
they were a big and phsycal thorn.

“Brookville is just a very good team,” Ackerman explained.
“There is no doubt that they are the best team we’ve played thus
far.”

Bradford fans looked for their team to rebound the following
week with a new opponent on the schedule, Central Mountain, but the
Owls stumbled a second time.

“We were given opportunities that we did not take advantage of,”
Ackerman explained. “Central took advantage of the opportunities we
gave them.”

The Owls did get back on track, however.

They started with a hard-fought win over DuBois in ankle-deep
mud at Parkway Field and wrapped up the nine-game schedule by
manhandling East Allegheny.

“We played a pretty strong game against DuBois,” Ackerman
observed. “We were much more focused for that game.

“Against East Allegheny, we knew they had won only one game and
were going through some changes with a new staff and system, but we
felt that being in the WPIAL, they would play better against
us.

“That wasn’t the case though. We scored the first three times we
had the ball and after they fumbled a punt, we scored. Our defense
even scored with Taylor O’Brien’s punt return.

“Our kids really looked great in that game and on the artificial
turf. They were really fun to watch,” he added.

Over the course of the nine games, the Owls averaged nearly 36
points per game on offense and O’Brien joined an elite group of
runningbacks with a 1,000 yard season.

The last Bradford back to reach that plateau was Sean Hvizdzak
in 2003.

O’Brien and Hvizdzak have two different running styles, but both
got the job done.

Bradford averaged nearly 300 yards on the ground this season,
with E.J. Moore and Nick Johnson supporting O’Brien’s quadruple
digit total.

“We rushed for just under 2,700 yards,” Ackerman noted. “When
you get that kind of yardage and average 35 points you’re not going
to lose very many games. That’s also a credit to our offensive
line.

“Our linemen, Alex Goodman and Tyler Hopkins at tightend, Cody
Godding and Steven Reinhardt at the tackles; Mike Johnston, Alex
Faucher and Joe Hardy at the guards, Josh Britton at center and
Nick Foster and Tommy Morris at the split end position, all did the
job this year.”

The Owls were also stingy on defense for seven of the nine
games.

“Brookville scored the most points we gave up (39) and Central
Mountain scored 29, but they had a very good running game,” said
Ackerman. “Other than those two teams, we did not give up a lot of
points.

“Our defense has been very strong and always seems to rise to
the occasion,” he emphasized.

Now there has been nearly a two week layoff, and the Owls will
be idle another week until facing Clearfield in a rematch for the
District 9 Class AAA title next Friday.

“Everybody has been asking me about the long layoff, but I think
we’re ready to play and we could play tomorrow if we needed to,”
Ackerman said confidently. “We’ve just had more time to prepare for
what we think we’ll see from Clearfield.”