JOHNSTOWN — A year after failing to win a single division game, the Bradford football team was able to put together a playoff-caliber season. That’s an accomplishment not even a tough season-ending loss can diminish.
The Owls knew they were facing a step up in class when they took on the defending District 5-6-9 Class 4A Champion Greater Johnstown Trojans in Friday’s district semifinal contest. Unfortunately, Bradford wasn’t up to the challenge, falling 35-13 to finish the 2017 season with a 7-3 overall record.
After leading 7-0 after one quarter, the Trojans offense exploded in the second frame, putting up 28 points in just over 10 minutes to build an insurmountable lead.
While the concepts Johnstown employed weren’t foreign to the Owls, the speed and physicality with which they were executed were.
“You see a lot of different things in the AML,” Owls coach Jeff Puglio said. “You see some tempo, you see some ground and pound. We’ve seen it before. Their perimeter speed isn’t something we’ve seen before, but we’ve seen that style of football before.”
Johnstown opened the scoring with a 16-yard scoring strike from Austin Barber to Darrian Berkins in the later part of the first quarter.
Down by seven after 12 minutes, it looked like the Owls might be able to hang around.
But just a minute and a half into the second quarter, Imil Britt ripped off a 57-yard run to make it 14-0. The Trojans then caught Bradford off-guard with a successful onside kick.
A few plays later, Trevon Fields scored from 15 yards out. A Bradford three-and-out after that, and Barber scored on a 10-yard keeper.
In a matter of minutes, Johnstown had opened up a 28-0 lead.
“I don’t know how [emotionally] down we were; we were just frustrated,” Puglio said. “They didn’t do anything we didn’t plan for, it’s just the execution. We’re really young. We’re bringing a lot of guys back, so it’s a lot to build on.”
Johnstown ended the half with another score when Barber found Britt on a 22-yard scoring strike. The Trojans’ QB — who entered the game responsible for 30 touchdowns — finished with 97 yards through the air, 41 on the ground, and accounted for three touchdowns.
“The quarterback played a really good game,” Puglio said. “He’s hard to bring down. Their team speed overall was a problem for us and we know it was gonna be if we didn’t tackle well.”
The only bright spot in the first half for the Owls was a nice interception by Caleb Nuzzo off of a deflection.
With the game well in hand, Johnstown was simply playing out the stretch. Even so, it seemed like Bradford might not find the scoreboard in its final game of the year with how much the offense was struggling.
Senior fullback John Eakin in particular had been held in check through three quarters, registering just 57 yards on his first 14 carries.
The last two, however, were further evidence of why number 33 will be sorely missed next season.
With just under four minutes to go, Eakin finally found some running room, galloping almost untouched for an 87-yard touchdown.
After a fumble recovery by Isaac Gralak, Eakin didn’t waste any time on the next drive, rumbling 43 yards for his second touchdown in two carries.
Even though it came in a losing effort, Puglio was happy to be able to send his workhorse back out in style.
“It was nice to get him in the end zone in his last game,” Puglio said of Eakin’s performance. “He worked really hard for us for four years, so it’s nice to see him go out that way.”
Eakin finished the game with 187 yards on 16 carries, accounting for nearly all of Bradford’s 210 yards of offense.
With the impending District 9 football merger next season, it’s tough to predict what 2018 has in store for the Owls. But if you ask Puglio, the team’s future is undeniably bright.
“We’re only graduating four [guys], so I’m bringing back basically this entire team,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of offense to replace with John, but we’ve already got plans in place to do something about that. It’s exciting; we’ve got 22 juniors coming back, 16 lettermen.”
But Puglio also noted that if Bradford truly wants to take the next step in District 9 and beyond, everyone involved needs to buy in completely.
“The offseason’s critical for us,” he said. “Are we gonna work together, or are we gonna do it separately?
“That’s the critical thing for this group: are we going to make the commitment in the summer and the winter to win these games and move on in this tournament.”
BY QUARTERS
Bradford 0 0 0 13—13
Johnstown 7 28 0 0—35
TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs: Bradford 6, Johnstown 16; Rushes/Yards Rushing: Bradford 23-192, Johnstown 43-239; Yards Passing: Bradford 18, Johnstown 109; Comp-Att-Int: Bradford 2-15-2, Johnstown 9-18-1; Punts: Bradford 3, Johnstown 2; Penalties: Bradford 1-5, Johnstown 7-80; Fumbles-Lost: Bradford 0-0, Johnstown 1-1; Total Yards: Bradford 210, Johnstown 348; Offensive Plays: Bradford 38, Johnstown 61
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Passing: Bradford: Donny Pattison 2-15-18-0-2; Johnstown: Austin Barber 8-15-97-2-1, Sammy Barber 1-3-12-0-0
Rushing: Bradford: John Eakin 16-187-2, Derek Sunafrank 3-1, Jaron Ambrose 2-6, Donny Pattison 2- -2; Johnstown: Austin Barber 6-41-1, Trevon Fields 6-46-1, Roderick Rosiek 6-30, Imil Britt 3-61-1, Launtrezze Williams 4-4, Darrian Berkins 1-20, Isaiah Dawkins 6- -3, Sammy Barber 4-25, Bryce Yoder 6-15
Receiving: Bradford: Caleb Nuzzo 2-18; Johnstown: Imil Britt 2-35-1, Darrian Berkins 3-28-1, Kahari Pery 1-1, Roderick Rosiek 2-33, Tyjon Jones 1-12
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter
Johnstown — Berkins 16-yard pass from A. Barber (kick by Mike Marino), 4:03
Second quarter
Johnstown — Britt 57-yard run (kick by Marino), 10:36
Johnstown — Fields 15-yard run (kick by Marino), 8:12
Johnstown — A. Barber 10-yard run (kick by Marino), 5:09
Johnstown — Britt 22-yard pass from A. Barber (kick by Marino), 0:04
Fourth quarter
Bradford — Eakin 87-yard run (kick by Caleb Nuzzo), 3:41
Bradford — Eakin 43-yard run (kick no good), 2:04
