Entering the season, Bushnell-Prairie City football coach Jacob Schisler knew that with his young team, there would be a significant learning curve.
Unfortunately for the Spartans, mistakes played a key role in Hanover River Ridge rallying from a 20-0 deficit to escape with a 40-38 victory in an I8FA crossover contest Saturday afternoon at B-PC High School.
“The growing pains, they’re definitely there,” said Schisler. “We have one senior out on the field at all times. Then the rest is juniors, sophomores and we have a lot of freshmen that are starting for us.”
“It’s something we need to take into account in these games,” he added. “These guys, they play hard, it’s just the mental mistakes that we have to fix.”
Playing its home opener, B-PC got off to a fast start.
Jonavan Harrell intercepted a Kaden Bauer pass on River Ridge’s second play from scrimmage.
The Spartans then drove 41 yards in 10 plays, including converting on two fourth downs during the drive.
Quarterback Parker Guppy’s one-yard run gave the Spartans a 6-0 lead with 5:14 left in the opening period.
Harrell intercepted Bauer for a second time on the Wildcats’ next drive. Then Harrell went to work on offense, breaking three takles on the way to a 55-yard touchdown run.
Haydin Hart added the two-point conversion run and the B-PC lead was 14-0 with 1:24 left in the opening quarter.
River Ridge was forced to punt on its next possession, giving B-PC the ball on its own 36.
The Spartans needed just one play and 12 seconds as Harrell broke free for a 64-yard score that made it 20-0 just 24 seconds into the second period.
Keegan Gillette then recovered the ensuing kick, giving B-PC the ball at the River Ridge 35.
The Wildcat defense held however, forcing a turnover on downs at the 28.
The River Ridge offense came to life, driving 72 yards in seven plays. Hamish Boden, who had a 25-yard run earlier in the drive, scored from six-yards out.
Boden added the twopoint conversion run that made it 20-8 with 6:28 remaining before halftime.
The Wildcats then recovered the ensuing kickoff at the Spartan 40. The next play, Boden scored and suddenly, River Ridge was within 20-14 as the two scores came just 11 seconds apart.
B-PC went three-and-out on its next series and River Ridge took possession at its own 36 after the Spartan punt.
The Wildcats scored eight plays later on a six-yard run by Boden. The PAT run failed, leaving the score deadlocked at 20-20 with 2:07 before halftime.
But neither offense was finished.
The Spartans scored on their next offensive play as Harrell hit paydirt again, this time from 60 yards.
That gave B-PC a 26-20 lead at the 1:54 mark.
“A huge shout out to our offensive line,” said Schisler. “They cleaned it up there and allowed Jon to get some yards.”
But River Ridge countered.
The Wildcats covered 55 yards in six plays. Boden had a 23-yard run during the drive before his one-yard run brought the visitors even at 26-26 with 48.4 seconds to go before halftime.
The Spartans got a 38-yard pass from Guppy to Cam Shinn to move the ball to the Wildcat 24.
However, Guppy was sacked on the next play and River Ridge recovered the ball on the play that was ruled a fumble.
“It was a playoff game for us,” said River Ridge coach Jared Berlage. “It was a playoff atmosphere, back and forth.”
The second half started with Eli Eisenberg intercepting Guppy on the third play.
But the Wildcats went three-and-out and punted back to the Spartans.
Starting at their own 47, the Spartans traveled 53 yards in six plays with Harrell scoring his fourth TD, this one on a 15-yard run.
That gave B-PC a 32-26 lead with 5:50 left in the third quarter.
River Ridge needed just four plays to answer as Bauer and Jayden Culver connected for a 59-yard scoring strike to knot the contest at 32-32 at the 4:33 mark.
The visitors took the lead with 8:11 remaining.
Driving 74 yards in eight plays, Bauer scored on an 11-yard run. He also had runs of 22 and 10 yards during the drive.
A potential interception by Guppy was also wiped out due to a pass interference penalty.
Bauer added the PAT run as River Ridge grabbed its first lead of the day at 40-32.
“For some of these seniors, they’ve been in this position before,” said Berlage of his team. “It’s easy to say ‘You just can’t get down on yourselves.’ There’s a lot of ebbs and flows that you have here.”
“We were looking to those seniors to help lead that come back,” he added.
But the Spartans once again scored on their next offensive play as Harrell raced 55 yards for his fifth TD of the day.
The Spartans called timeout before the PAT and it appeared to be successful as Guppy scored. However the Spartans were called for an illegal shift and pushed back five yards for the attempt.
Guppy fielded a high snap and dropped back to pass. River Ridge lineman Joe Dubord pressured Guppy and his hurried pass was incomplete, leaving the Spartans trailing 40-38 with 7:59 to go.
But the Spartans never got the ball back as River Ridge converted on one third down and one fourth down to keep possession.
The biggest though was on third-and-18 when Bauer ran for 13 yards and the Spartans were flagged for a horse collar tackle.
That gave the River Ridge the ball at the Spartan 15 and the Wildcats were able to run out the clock.
“We made too many mental mistakes out here and they piled up,” said Schisler.
“We’d have a good play and then we’d shoot ourselves in the foot,” he added. “It’s just things we have to clean up as a team.”
Harrell finished with 292 yards rushing and five TDs on 17 carries.
“You give Jon the ball and he’s going to find the endzone most of the time,” he added. “But you can’t rely on just one guy every single game. We’ve got to have everybody firing on all cylinders.”
The rest of rushing attack totaled 44 yards on 14 carries.
Guppy finished 3-of-14 for 63 yards and one interception.
On defense, Harrell had nine tackles and four assists. Guppy added six tackles and nine assists.
Hart recorded three tackles and nine assists, while Keegan Gilette added six tackles and one assist.
Shinn added five tackles and one assist.
Boden finished with 151 yards and four TDs on 21 carries, while Bauer added 195 yards and a score on 27 carries for River Ridge.
Bauer was also 3-of-9 passing for 78 yards with one TD and two interceptions.
“It makes the two-and-ahalf hour bus ride home a lot better when come out on top with a W,” said Berlage.
The schedule gets no easier next week as the Spartans return to the road.
“Our goal was to try and win every home game,” said Schisler. “But we’ve got a quick turnaround. And its against Amboy, the defending state champs. It doesn’t get any easier for us.”
“We’ve just got to keep working and keep trying and get better as a team,” he added.
Amboy/LaMoille/Ohio is 1-1 on the season, beating Rockford Christian Life 64-6 after losing its season opener to Milledgeville 30-22.
Bushnell-Prairie City's Parker Guppy (l6) attempts to bring down River Ridge running back Hamish Boden (21) during Saturday's eight-man football contest at B-PC High School. Guppy had 15 total tackles for the Spartans, but Boden ran for 151 yards and four touchdowns as the visiting Wildcats escaped with a 40-38 victory.
