Bellbrook’s stellar season rolls on with big win
GERMANTOWN — Since the program’s birth in 1964, only two Bellbrook High School football teams have finished a regular season 10-0. The 1991 squad was the first to go undefeated; the 1999 club the last.
Friday, Bellbrook’s 2018 team took an enormous step closer to adding another name to that limited and legendary list.
Improving to 6-0 for the first time since 1999, Bellbrook beat host Valley View 28-21 in a pivotal Southwestern Buckeye League Southwestern Division game at Barker Field.
The Spartans, coming off their own 10-0 season last year, dropped to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the division. Bellbrook and Brookville are tied atop the Southwestern standings at 2-0.
It was the second straight week the Golden Eagles overcame a major hurdle. Last Friday, Bellbrook rallied from a 17-7 halftime deficit to beat Franklin 21-17.
“These are statement games for us,” Bellbrook coach Jeff Jenkins said. “These last two teams are teams that have beaten us the last two years so they’re certainly ones that we’ve had circled for a long time. To take the next step as a program you have to get these wins.”
Said senior running back Justin Sloan: “We hadn’t beaten them my whole career here and it was huge to finally get it done. Now we keep going.”
Ranked No. 4 in the state in the Division III Associated Press state poll, Bellbrook took a 21-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter courtesy of a 4-yard touchdown run by Sedrick Ferguson. That score accompanied three short scoring runs by Sloan (1, 2 and 3 yards) as the Golden Eagles reached the end zone on their first four possessions.
It was enough. Despite scoring 84 points and topping 40 in each of its past two games against Bellbrook, Valley View’s offense struggled to find consistency. Part of that was Bellbrook’s defense. The other ingredient? The Golden Eagles offense.
Having allowed just 32 points in its first five games, Bellbrook allowed 14 in the second quarter as Valley View quarterback Cade Cradlebaugh hit Troy Coulter for an 8-yard touchdown pass and Dylan Branham ran in from 6 yards out.
In the third and fourth quarters, Bellbrook held a substantial advantage in time of possession.
Valley View had four possessions in the second half that lasted less than seven minutes total. Bellbrook, which missed a third quarter field goal and lost a fumble in the Valley View end zone in the fourth quarter, had two drives that lasted more than seven minutes in the final 24.
“We talked about that at halftime,” Jenkins said. “We had to eat up the clock. I’m still kind of angry we didn’t punch it in.”
Valley View closed to within 28-21 with 58 seconds to play when Branham hit Coulter for a 13-yard touchdown on a halfback pass. The ensuing onside kick was recovered by Valley View, but the Spartans were flagged for illegal touching.
“You can’t get that far behind against a really good team,” Valley View coach Bob Skidmore said. “You just can’t do that. Especially against a team that wants to hold the ball and keep it away from you.”
Said Sloan: “The plan was to run it down their throat.”
Of Bellbrook’s remaining four opponents, the two toughest — Brookville and Oakwood (rival) — travel to Miami Valley South Stadium in weeks 8-9. Road trips to Eaton and Monroe (a combined 1-11) loom in weeks 7 and 10, respectively.