Football Wins Homecoming Thriller

Brunswick’s defense made a goal line stop as time expired to preserve a 33-26 Homecoming win against Taft in front of a capacity crowd at Cosby Field. The Bruins won the battle of undefeated teams, improving to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in Erickson League play, while Taft dropped to 4-1 and 3-1 in conference action.

 

In the closely played contest, Taft jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Brunswick countered on its next possession, capping a four-play, 72-yard drive with a two-yard TD plunge by Jalen Madison. Madison, who rushed for a career-best 215 yards on 28 carries, keyed the scoring drive with a 57-yard run deep into Taft territory.

 

The Rhinos countered quickly, returning the ensuing kick-off 90 yards to pay dirt. Following a made extra-point, Taft was back up by seven points, 14-7.

 

Later in the first quarter, Brunswick knotted the game at 14 apiece. After forcing a Taft fumble, and converting on a challenging third-and-25 situation, the Bruins scored on Madison’s second TD run from six yards out.

 

In the waning seconds of the second quarter, Brunswick had a chance to score another touchdown. The Bruins worked their way to the Taft one-yard line, but fumbled the ball away, as the teams went into the half, tied 14-14.

 

The Bruins defense forced another Taft turnover to open the third quarter, as David MacGillvray intercepted a pass on the visitor’s 42. Six plays later, Madison bowled over several Taft defenders on his way to a 22-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-one play from scrimmage. Despite the extra-point kick being blocked, the Bruins owned their first lead of the game at 20-14.

 

The Rhinos were thwarted a tying touchdown on their next drive, as Brunswick’s Jose Riera recovered a Taft fumble on the Brunswick five-yard line. However, after the Bruins offense punted the ball back to the Rhinos, the visitors tied the game at 20-20 following a 40-yard touchdown pass. The Bruins blocked the extra-point kick to keep the game tied at 20-all.

 

Brunswick opened the fourth quarter with another six-play scoring drive, finished off by Madison’s TD scamper from 27 yards out. With the made extra-point kick, the Bruins regained the lead, 27-20.

 

Taft would not go away, as the Rhinos scored on another 40-yard touchdown pass to trim the deficit to 27-26. Taft elected to try for a two-point conversion, but ended up inches short from making the two-point try.

 

On the Bruins’ next possession, facing a daunting third down and 21, quarterback Nicky Winegardner found Cornelius Johnson racing downfield. Johnson made an acrobatic, one-handed grab against double-coverage to haul in the 31-yard pass for a key first down. Later in the drive, Winegardner called his own number, as the quarterback raced around the right side of the line for a 20-yard touchdown run. Following the missed extra-point, the Bruins owned a 33-26 lead.

 

Taft kept up the offensive pressure, driving into the Brunswick red zone, but turned the ball over on downs with 4:16 left in regulation.

 

The Brunswick offense kept the ball on the ground for three plays, running the game clock down and forcing Taft to use its second time out of the half.

 

Following a punt by the Bruins, Taft ‘s offense took over on the Brunswick 41, with 2:27 left to play, down by seven points.

 

Taft quickly marched to the Brunswick nine, setting up a first-and-goal situation with 1:12 on the clock. A quarterback scramble followed, as the Rhinos got to the Brunswick three-yard line. Following a one-yard run, Taft called its final time-out with 39 seconds left.

 

On third down from the Brunswick two, a pass interference penalty was called on the Bruins, giving Taft a first down on the Brunswick one-yard line with 35 seconds left in the game.

 

Trailing 33-26, Taft tried a quarterback run up the middle, but the Bruins held the line as the clock continued to run. On second down with just inches to go, Brunswick stuffed the Taft quarterback for a two-yard loss, as time expired before the Rhinos could run another play.

 

For the Bruins, Madison finished with 215 yards rushing on 28 carries with four touchdowns, while Johnson grabbed five passes for 98 yards and Winegardner completed 10 of 16 passes for 165 yards.

 

The Bruins return to Cosby Field to face Salisbury on Saturday, October 20.