Bruins Frosh Bounce Back, win 27-8
A week after being stymied on the offensive side of the ball, the Bear River freshman football team roared back last Thursday to pound out a 27-8 non-league win over Marysville’s Indians.
Hosting the Indians at Lake of the Pines, the Bruins unleashed eight different ball carriers at the visitors and then rode the balanced ground attack and a sturdy defense to raise its season overall record to 2-1-1 on the year.
Bear River will now jump into Pioneer Valley League play when the Bruins travel to Rocklin Thursday afternoon to test Whitney’s Wildcats at 5:30 p.m.
Two weeks ago against Woodcreek, the Bruins didn’t do too much right on offense as the Timberwolves completely limited Bear River’s ground and passing games.
But Thursday with Sean O’Brien, Jacob Robinson, Chris Carcido and Sam Houston sharing the ball-toting chores, the Bruins built a 21-0 lead by halftime and cruised home to the victory.
O’Brien led all ball carriers with 44 yards on seven carries and scored the game’s first touchdown at the end of the first quarter on a four-yard run. O’Brien also added the two point conversion run for an early 8-0 Bruins lead.
Also playing well were Robinson, who added 29 yards on three carries and scored a touchdown on a 23-yard run in the fourth quarter, and Carcido, who chipped in with 28 more yards on just three trips.
Bear River’s Sam Houston also contributed a big play. Houston, who carried the ball three times for 17 yards came up with a key pass interception early in the second quarter which he returned 77 yards for six points.
The interception came following Bear River’s opening score and after the Indians had moved the ball down inside the Bruins’ 30-yard line.
The Bruins’ other touchdown came on a four-yard pass from quarterback Joe Levelle to Corey Pierce. The score with just 55 seconds left in the first half upped the count to 21-0 following Houston’s extra point boot.
Playing well on the offensive line for the winners were Brian Kenyon, Michael Mascari, Craig Hackland, Jake Cross and Garrett Tunget.
On the defensive side of the ball, Michael Wirth collected six solo tackles while O’Brien added five with a sack Houston and Joey Reina followed with seven and six total stops respectively.
Garrett Keck also caused a fumble that teammate Chris Talbot recovered.
In other Pioneer Valley League freshman action last week, Colfax opened league play with a 33-20 win over Whitney, Lincoln remained undefeated overall at 4-0 by topping Mesa Verde, 10-0, in their league opener and Placer outscored El Dorado, 35-32.