DUKE CENTER — With one game left on the schedule and a winless record, there’s not much else Bradford can do other than leave everything it has on the field tonight with no holding back, no regrets and nothing to lose.
And that’s exactly what Bradford head coach Jeff Puglio preached to the Owls (0-6) this week ahead of their season finale tonight at Otto-Eldred.
Tonight will be the final high school football game for Bradford’s six seniors in Austen Davis, Jake Pattison, Ryan Hughes, Kyle McWilliams, Alex Liners and Gavin Piscatelli, as the Owls look to cap off the year by winning their first game of the season and send the seniors out on a high note and the rest of the team into the offseason with momentum.
“After how everything went and how we got started, I’ll tell you, I’m really happy we got some seven games in this fall versus five in the spring,” Puglio said. “So I couldn’t be happier with how things turned out, how much progress we made despite what happened last week.”
Last week saw Bradford’s progression take a step back after the Owls were beaten by Port Allegany by a score of 30-6 — a game that saw the Gators score 30 unanswered points, including 22 in the fourth quarter to seal their second consecutive win.
This loss came after the Owls put up competitive battles against Ridgway and Kane in back-to-back weeks.
Bradford’s defense allowed 178 passing yards and two touchdowns against Port and things won’t get any easier tonight with the unit having to face O-E quarterback and Canisius baseball commit Cole Sebastian.
Sebastian has thrown for over 5,000 career yards and has 1,007 yards on 85 completions with nine touchdowns and five interceptions this year. He also leads the team in rushing with 324 yards on 52 carries and four scores.
The senior most recently accounted for four touchdowns (two passing, two rushing) in a 41-34 win over Kane last week to go along with 274 passing yards and 167 yards on the ground.
O-E’s offensive style is similar to the one Bradford has been practicing against all season with previous O-E offensive coordinator Nate Zitnik taking on the same role with the Owls this season.
“(Cole’s) athletic. He makes things happen,” Puglio said. “The offense is very similar with Coach (Zitnik) coming over from there. We’ve been practicing against it a lot, so we’re comfortable with what we think they’re going to do, the only thing we haven’t been practicing against is Cole.
“He’s the difference maker. He’s got some really nice offensive linemen in front of him. He’s got some guys on the outside to catch passes for him, so they got a good thing going. The system is the system, but he’s running it really, really well.”
Puglio said one of the keys to containing Sebastian will be to focus on what he’s doing every play. And with the possibility of tonight’s game being the last for the Terrors (2-3), Puglio knows Sebastian will be at his best.
“He’s a Division I athlete, so we know we’re going to get his best effort,” Puglio said. “The way things are looking, it might be his last game too. So they’re saying the same thing to their guys that we’re saying to ours this week. So we’re expecting his best effort, we’re expecting to have to go four quarters with him and really focus and pay attention to detail on what he’s doing on every single play.”
After last week’s letdown, Puglio is looking for the Owls to build off the progress they made against Ridgway and Kane.
The goal is to send the team’s six seniors out on a high note and then hit the ground running with that momentum heading into the offseason during workouts.
“From where we were (Week 1) against St. Marys to where we are right now, we’ve made tremendous strides,” Puglio said. “What (continuing to make strides against O-E) hopefully does is we send these six seniors off the right way and then these younger guys see the importance of staying together in the offseason, how important the weight room’s going to be because we’re starting to build something special here, but they got to pick up the torch.”
“If we leave the field after how we left last Friday night, that’s a bad taste in your mouth to kind of sit on for several months,” Puglio later added. “We want to get in the weight room almost immediately. A lot of guys have already talked to me about that, so that’s encouraging.”
Along with starting fast and focusing, other keys for Bradford, according to Puglio, are playing hard and loose and to have energy.
But perhaps the most important thing Puglio expects out of his team tonight is to enjoy the Friday night lights atmosphere and have fun playing the game one last time this fall.
“We didn’t have much fun on Friday,” Puglio said. “Even after we scored, we still weren’t having much fun. So enjoy being there one last time and just enjoy the whole experience of Friday night lights and have fun. I want them to have fun out there.”
