On a rainy Thursday evening in New Matamoras, Ohio, the Bridgeport Bulldogs and Frontier Cougars opened up the 2023 campaign in style. Frontier had won the first five meetings between these two schools, until last season when Bridgeport broke the losing streak with a 34-22 victory over the Cougars at Perkins Field. The series shifted to the home of the Cougars for this year’s matchup. Both teams were replacing a lot of key positions and many underclassmen were asked to step up and produce in the clutch. Even with the underclassmen stepping up the seniors on both sides would make some key plays in this matchup.
The Bulldogs received the opening kickoff and it didn’t take them long to find paydirt. Freshman quarterback Aiden Kinsey found junior, wide receiver Avery Jackson wide open down the sideline and hit him with a 68 yard strike for his first varsity passing touchdown on his first varsity series. The extra point was no good, but the Bulldogs jumped out to a 6-0 lead with 9:41 to go in the first quarter. After a Frontier three and out the Bulldogs offense took the field once again. On a six play, 73 yard drive, Kinsey found Avery Jackson open again for a 17 yard touchdown, both players’ second of the night to make it 13-0. Frontier’s second offensive drive of the game ended the first quarter but two plays into the second quarter senior running back, Ethan Snyder bulldozed his way into the endzone to give the hosts their first score of the season. We headed to halftime with Bridgeport leading 13-7.
Frontier capped off an 11 play 62 yard drive as sophomore, Hunter Taylor found classmate Aaden Bills for a 9 yard touchdown pass. The extra point was blocked and we were deadlocked at 13 all. After a Bridgeport three and out, the Cougars took over once again. Sophomore running back, Caleb Kirkpatrick found a seam and flew down the field for 64 yards to give Frontier their first lead of the night at 19-13 with the extra point being blocked. We headed to the 4th quarter with the Cougars leading 19-13. The rain started to fall in New Matamoras and the ball became slippery. The Cougars fumbled on their own 33 yard line and Kinsey who played both ways on the night scooped it up and ran 33 yards for the defensive touchdown to tie the game at 19. Bridgeport lined up for the extra point, but it was a fake as holder Avery Jackson found Michael Marshall wide open in the endzone for the two-point conversion to make it 21-19 in favor of Bridgeport. The Bulldogs had a fumble of their own on a failed reverse play as Frontier’s Adam Wolfe jumped on the loose ball. Frontier took almost five minutes off the clock and Ethan Snyder ran in from 2 yards out for his second score of the night. The 9 play, 74 yard scoring drive gave Frontier a 25-21 lead after a failed two point conversion try. After a very nice kickoff return the Bulldogs were in business on the Frontier 49 yards line. After two big plays, senior Michael Marshall took a direct snap in the Wildcat formation and found the endzone from 20 yards out to regian the lead at 27-25. With 2:21 on the clock Frontier got the ball down to the Bridgeport 15 yard line. Faced with a 4th down and only 3 seconds on the clock, the quarterback Taylor rolled out to his right, but had a lot of pressure coming from the Bridgeport front and overthrew his intended receiver Karsten Potts to end the game.
In the 27-25 victory for Bridgeport one of the key standouts was freshman quarterback and free safety, Aiden Kinsey. Kinsey threw for 92 yards and two scores and added the fumble recovery score on defense. Not bad for a high school debut. Coach Ray said after the game, “He’s going to be something special. He’s only a freshman. He played big time tonight, I was worried about the first game jitters, but he stepped up big for us tonight. We got it done, I’m so proud of this team. We have 20 some freshman and sophomores out there and only like six seniors, we’re a young team and this win was important to us.” Marshall ran for 122 yards on 10 carries at a touchdown. “It feels amazing, all the training we did this off season, and the win tonight really made it all worth it,”commented Marshall. Jackson finished the night with two catches for 66 yards and found the endzone on both receptions.
The Frontier offense was amazing as well. Ethan Snyder had a great start to his senior season with 148 yards on the ground on 29 carries and two scores. Kirkpatrick finished the night almost eclipsing 200 yards with 192 on 20 carries. Taylor completed 7 passes on 16 attempts for 48 yards and a touchdown.
Bridgeport will open their home slate next Friday against Monroe Central while Frontier gets to stay at home to take on Miller next Friday.
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