ST. MARYS — There were bound to be some growing pains as Bradford rolled out its new schemes on offense and defense. Unfortunately for the Owls, senior-laden St. Marys was bound to capitalize.
The Flying Dutchmen used early Bradford miscues and a huge first quarter to jump out to a 28-point lead, and then never looked back en route to a resounding 69-13 victory over the visiting Owls Friday night at Dutch Country Stadium.
It was a tough way for Bradford (0-1) to get its season going with new playbooks on each side of the ball, but head coach Jeff Puglio was left feeling that the Owls have some things they can salvage from the defeat.
“There were positives out there,” the 11th-year coach said. “A lot of the stuff early on was self-inflicted… The scoreboard looks bad, and I get that. People will say it’s more of the same, but it’s so far from that. These kids worked really hard this offseason, and this doesn’t indicate that at all.
“There are things we obviously need to work on, but there are positives to build off of, too.”
Bradford began the game with a pair of three-and-outs, followed by back-to-back turnovers, including a pick-6 by Terry Williams. The result was a quick 28-0 St. Marys (1-0) lead that Bradford never managed to dig out of.
Dutchmen quarterback Christian Coudriet made sure his team capitalized on those Owl mistakes, as the signal-caller began the game completing seven of eight passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns. He finished with 302 yards and five scores.
Receivers Bryce Walker and Michael Fitzgerald were his favorite targets on the evening. Walker hauled in seven receptions for 105 yards and a pair of scores, while Fitzgerald caught six passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns.
The issue on Bradford’s end, Puglio says, was not executing its defensive game plan properly.
“I think we have to look at fundamentals,” he said. “We were ready for what they were going to do to us; we just didn’t execute the game plan well enough. It starts on the interior; our inside linebackers kind of got lost, and they know that… If we’re not going to get to our zone drops, a quarterback like (Coudriet) is going to find the holes, and he did constantly over the middle all night long.”
After the nightmarish start, the Owls found a little rhythm in the second quarter. Davis completed a 78-yard deep bomb to Dalton Dixon to get Bradford on the board, 28-6, and the quarterback finished the night with 109 passing yards. In addition, his early interception was his only turnover of the night.
The Bradford run game, however, never quite found traction, as the Owls rushed for just 54 yards on 18 carries.
Elijah Fitton scored Bradford’s other touchdown of the night, a 23-yard scamper in the fourth quarter that drew the Owls to within 56-13 at that point.
“We knew we needed to start fast, and we just didn’t,” Puglio said. “We just have to settle into the offense early. I think there was opportunity early there in the game, but the next thing you know, it’s 28-0. Then, you’re playing catch-up and everything changes.”
As a whole, St. Marys outgained Bradford in total offense 459-177. Seven different Dutchmen had a hand in scores on the night — something Puglio attributes to experience and continuity as the Dutchmen go into their second year under head coach Chris Dworek.
“We’re playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores in sports, and for everybody, you could even say this for our seniors since it’s a new system, everybody’s brand new,” he said. “St. Marys has been through this for a year, and you can tell what it looks like a year later. Their athletes are very good, they’re well-coached and they know where to be on the field.”
The Flying Dutchmen visit Kane next weekend. The Wolves fell to Ridgway in a tight game, 17-14.
Bradford, meanwhile, will look to get back on track against those victorious Elkers Friday at Parkway Field. Puglio hopes his team can move on from its initial loss and improve heading into that matchup.
“We told (the players) it’s all correctable and this isn’t catastrophic,” Puglio said. “We can get back to work on it Monday and get going again.”
He added, “We’re in this together. We have to look out for each other, build each other up and get back to work.”
AT ST. MARYS
BY QUARTERS
Bradford 0 6 0 7—13
St. Marys 28 14 14 13—69
TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs: B: 6, SM: 21; Rushes/Yards Rushing: B: 18-54, SM: 21-121; Yards Passing: B: 123, SM: 338; Comp-Att-Int: B: 14-26-1, SM: 25-36-0; Penalties: B: 5-30, SM: 8-85; Fumbles-Lost: B: 6-3, SM: 1-0; Total Yards: B: 177, SM: 459; Offensive Plays: B: 44, SM: 57
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Passing: B: Austen Davis 11-20-109-1-1, Isaac McCormick 2-6-14-0-0; SM: Christian Coudriet 22-31-302-4-0, Charlie Coudriet 3-5-36-1-0
Rushing: B: Davis 6-(-8), Elijah Fitton 2-23-1, Nolan Gonzalez 3-(-4), Dalton Dixon 1-2, Jerid Wilmoth 1-22, Tyson Ray 2-(-1) McCormick 2-5, A.J. Gleason 1-15; SM: Jacob Kline 6-35-1, Chr. Coudriet 3-7, James Davis 5-18, Cha. Coudriet 4-31, Justin Dornisch 3-30-1
Receiving: B: jake Pattison 5-17, Dixon 1-78-1, Gonzalez 2-4, Wilmoth 2-1, Fitton 1-9, Eric Hines 1-10, ; SM: Mitchell Reiter 2-33, Bryce Walker 7-105-2, Michael Fitzgerald 6-82-2, Josh Robinson 2-25, Carter Chadsey 2-12-1, Kline 3-28-1, Logan Mosier 2-33
Scoring summary
First quarter
SM: Michael Fitzgerald, 15-yard pass from Christian Coudriet (Vinicius Nunes PAT), 9:06
SM: Jacob Kline: 11-yard run (Nunes PAT), 4:18
SM: Terry Williams, 27-yard interception return (Nunes PAT), 3:13
SM: Bryce Walker, 23-yard pass from Coudriet (Nunes PAT), 2:26
Second quarter
B: Dalton Dixon, 78-yard pass from Austen Davis (PAT failed), 6:17
SM: Walker, 22-yard pass from Coudriet (Nunes PAT), 3:03
SM: Kline, 16-yard pass from Coudriet (Nunes PAT), 0:02
Third quarter
SM: Fitzgerald, 1-yard pass from Coudriet (Nunes PAT), 9:19
SM: Carter Chadsey, 3-yard pass from Charlie Coudriet (Nunes PAT), 3:31
Fourth quarter
B: Elijah Fitton, 23-yard run (Abbie Nuzzo PAT), 10:35
SM: Justin Dornisch, 10-yard run (PAT failed), 8:15
SM: Clay Grazioli, 20-yard fumble return (Nunes PAT), 6:26
