WESTON -- Bridgeport racked up 20 second-half points Friday night, recording a methodical 27-0 Big 10 Conference victory at Lewis County in prep football action.
After leading only 7-0 at the half, the Indians surged when needed to raise their mark to 2-1.
Ironically, the 27-0 score was identical to last week's Indian victory over South Harrison, as the Bridgeport defense has now gone nine quarters without allowing a point. But the lack of emotion at times was not lost on coach Bruce Carey, knowing that his squad can ill afford to turn it "on and off" each week.
"I don't know why but this was just an unemotional game for us. The line played decent, and we made some plays, but at times, we were just not very focused," Carey said.
Bridgeport jumped on the board early as Shawn Adkins scored from 2 yards at the 7:09 mark of the first quarter. The play capped a short 35-yard drive that was set up by a 30-yard punt return by Adkins. Kash Kiefer's PAT put the score at 7-0.
Lewis County responded with a 15-play march that ventured all the way to the Indian 14. But despite consuming almost 10 minutes and getting the game well into the second quarter, the Minutemen lost the ball on downs, and the half would later end with the one-touchdown margin.
Bridgeport opened the second half with a bang as Jamin McCue returned the kickoff 37 yards to the Lewis 45.
The big return set up another Adkins two-yard plunge, putting the Indians up 14-0.
"We have to a better job of suring up our special teams. We gave them on a short field for both of their first two scores," Lewis County coach Bob Wood said.
But the returns marked a continued success story of Bruce Carey-coached special teams play...a facet that has been a hallmark of his nearly .800 winning percentage as the Indian mentor.
"We take a great deal of pride in our special teams, and those two returns were huge for us tonight. We don't just fill out our special team units with guys just to get them letters. We put our best people out there," Carey said.
Any chance of a Lewis comeback ended on the next possession, as a Minuteman fumble was recovered by B.R. Hathaway on the Lewis 12. Adkins crashed home for his third score on the next play. The miscue would be one of two Lewis County turnovers on the night, as the Indians did not have any turnovers.
Bridgeport closed the scoring with an 11-play, 82-yard march that culminated in a Jason Bush five-yard run. The Indians would collect 290 rushing yards, led by Adkins' 143 yards on 23 carries. McCue would run for 66 on 12 carries while Hathaway rambled for 39 on six totes.
"We really stepped it up in the second half...our blocking was stronger especially downfield. We just need to put four quarters together the way we played the third quarter tonight. Hopefully we can come out of the gates quick next week and take it all the way through," Adkins said.
Carey was also not pleased with the first half play, and gave some insight to his halftime talk.
'I simply told them that we couldn't be complacent. We were stringing together some nice drives, but then we were getting complacent, and that had to stop," Carey said.
Lewis County was led offensively by Alden Butcher with 62 yards on 20 carries. The Minutemen's leading rusher, Bobby Britton, left the game with an injury after the second play from scrimmage.
The tight Indian defense held the Minutemen to only 137 total yards in extending the impressive scoreless streak.
