The Bruins crushed Battle High School (BHS) 38-0 Friday, Oct. 6 with a showcase of explosive defensive plays and an offense that gained momentum as the game continued.
RBHS hosted the Spartans on the coldest Friday night of the season, with the Bruin student section dressed in pink-out for the last day of the homecoming spirit week. After winning the coin toss, the Bruins deferred possession and the game began.
On the first possession of the game, the Spartans were held to a three and out, capped off by a punt that only made it to the BHS 41-yard line. With a short field, the Bruins crept closer to the endzone, and were held to a field goal by senior kicker Joey Scardina. On the following drive, junior cornerback Donivan Taylor picked off the Spartans, and ran back for a touchdown, putting RBHS up 10-0 at the end of the first quarter. Offensive coordinator Alex Harrell said that defensive plays, such as Taylor’s interception, helped the offense in the slow starting game.
“Lucky for me, our defense played lights out,” Harrell said. “They accounted for about just as many points as [the offense] did. So it definitely makes it easy for me when we’re getting the ball on the 30-yard line and have so many guys on the defense making plays.”
In the first play of the second quarter, senior linebacker Grayson Cutchlow scooped up a BHS fumble, running it back for another Bruin touchdown. After another three and out for the Spartans, the RBHS offense worked their way down field off the back of a long catch-and-run to junior receiver Devin Holt, putting the ball at the 1-yard line. Senior running back Cooper Myers then powered through for the first offensive touchdown of the game.
With a couple of minutes left in the second quarter, junior quarterback Brady Davidson launched a ball downfield to Holt, but came up short on the pass and was intercepted by BHS. The Bruins defense stopped the Spartans with less than a minute to go in the quarter, bringing in senior quarterback Sam Kaiser for the final drive of the half. Kaiser too threw an interception before going into halftime, but with no time left for the Spartans to score, RBHS led by a score of 24-0.
Senior tackle Noah Schondelmeyer said the team was prepared going into the game and felt good about their physicality on both sides of the ball.
“We felt confident, but we knew we had to stay locked in,” Schondelmeyer said. “We were playing hard and clean up front, and we knew we wanted to run the ball a lot because they have some good guys in the backfield. So we executed.”
Returning the ball out of the half, the Bruins were forced to punt on a three and out, but similarly held BHS to a punt on their subsequent drive. A series of short passes and runs from RBHS both ate the clock and the ground on the next possession, ending in an 11-yard pass from Davidson to Myers. In the final minutes of the third quarter, the Bruins were stopped on the BHS 20-yard line, and a missed field goal by Scardina gave the Spartans possession. Despite the miscue, Schondelmeyer said that the Bruins have one of the best teams in the state when everything is running smoothly.
“Our greatest strength is our potential,” Schondelmeyer said. “We have so much potential. We have so many good guys [on the field] and we have so many people that we can get out there and play, and when everyone executes and we all do our job, we’re the best team in the state.”
The Bruins entered the final quarter leading 31-0 and capped off the scoring with a long pass and run from Davidson to junior receiver Drevyn Seamon, for a touchdown and an extra point. On BHS’ final drive of the game, however, they marched down into the Bruin redzone, where senior cornerback Cullen Snow intercepted a pass in the endzone as the clock wound down. The final score, 38-0 in favor of RBHS.
“I thought everyone played really well,” Harrell said. “I just want to say thank you to everybody for coming out to the game. We had an absolutely incredible student section tonight. I know it was crazy with such a weird week and a couple days off, but our band is always in the endzone just crushing it and making it fun for us, and the student vibe and investment is just awesome, so I just want to say thank you.”
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