Bradford’s 43-14 victory over Kane last week was further proof that how you finish is more important than how you start.
After a sluggish first half that saw them trail the Wolves 14-7 at the half, the Owls came out of the locker room with a vengeance, scoring 36 unanswered points to bury Kane and earn their second win of the season.
But if Bradford wants to register ‘W’ number three tomorrow night against undefeated Ridgway, it’s going to take a full 48-minute effort.
“We’re just trying to keep the overall intensity level high like we were in that second half against Kane,” Bradford head coach Jeff Puglio said. “We have to figure out how to replicate that.”
The Week 3 matchup between the Owls and Elkers at Parkway Field is shaping up as one of the most important games of the early part of the season. Both teams are looking to assert their place in the Large School Division hierarchy, and with the season already a third of the way complete, every victory is that much more crucial.
While Bradford’s offense rebounded nicely after scoring just 14 points against St. Marys in Week 1, it has been the defense that has been firing on all cylinders of late.
After giving up 69 points in a season-opening loss to Brookville, the Owls defense has yielded just 16 points in the last two weeks combined.
“I’ve liked the aggressiveness we’ve shown defensively,” Puglio said, though he noted, “The one thing I would like us to do is to create more turnovers. It’s a work in progress each week, but that’s one of the things we’re focusing on this week.”
Turnovers on the other side of the ball is something that will need to be addressed if the Owls are to be successful on Friday. Bradford gave the ball away five times against Kane, all of them via fumble.
Despite replacing incumbent quarterback Nate Blauser with Caleb Nuzzo in the second half of the Kane game, Puglio credited the ball security issues with a nagging finger injury Blauser has been dealing with all season.
Puglio was firm in his decision to once again go with the senior Blauser as the QB1 tomorrow night.
“Nate’s our quarterback,” Puglio said. “It was a finger (injury) with him that kind of altered the way he went back, but we’re past that now and he’s ready to go.”
Blauser and the rest of the Bradford offense will have a tall task ahead of them going against a Ridgway defense that is as imposing as any in District 9.
Despite losing a number of key players from its back-to-back Class A D-9 Champions, Ridgway is yielding under seven points per contest through three games this year.
Bradford has struggled on offense in each of its past two meetings with the Elkers — a 21-7 loss last season and a 13-0 shutout defeat in 2016.
“We know their plan is to take away the run,” Puglio said. “That’s what they’ve done the past two years. They know where to attack us, so we have to go out and play fast and loose on both sides of the ball.”
While Ridgway is a relatively new opponent for Bradford — the last two games are the only times the teams have met in the last decade — Puglio and the Owls know what lies in store for them against coach Mark Heindl’s crew.
“They’re very fundamentally sound,” Puglio said. “They’re physical, they’re aggressive; you get nothing easy against Ridgway. They’re going to come after you and we have to match that.”
If Bradford wants to come out on top, Puglio knows it’s going to take a full-game effort, something he says he hasn’t seen yet from his team despite their nice start to the season.
“We haven’t played four full quarters yet this year,” he noted. “We need to match the intensity we had last week and go after them like they’re going to come after us.”
