HAPPY HARDING
Presidents win 100th meeting with Central, Brown scores 3 TDs
BRIDGEPORT — Looking down from their vantage point at the Lakewiew cemetery on the city’s East side Wednesday afternoon, Harding coach Eddie Santiago and the members of the Presidents football team could see their home field, shining in the sunlight. The 100th meeting against city rival Central was a day away, but before they battled for gridiron bragging rights, the Presidents had a task to perform.
One by one, the coaching staff and the seniors laid a red rose on the grave of former Harding coach John Lewis, the man who taught winning and respect to Presidents teams from 1968 until his death in 1989.
After all the roses had been placed on Lewis’ plot, Santiago told his team to look down at the field.
“We’re so close that he (Lewis) can see us when we play,” Santiago said. “When we score, he can hear the thunder.”
The Presidents certainly brought the thunder Thursday morning to Kennedy Stadium, as senior Jaidon Brown scored three touchdowns and intercepted a pass as Harding rolled to a 49-18 decision — their eighth straight victory in the series that dates back to 1926 — before an estimated crowd of 1,000.
“We wanted to establish the running game. We pushed the (blocking) sled and went back to the most basic form of football, blocking and tackling,” said Santiago, as the Presidents finished 1-9 and pushed their lead in the overall series to 58-38-4. “We just stripped down to the bare bones. Simple stuff.”
Brown finished with 156 yards rushing on just 10 carries, scoring both his touchdowns on runs of 13 yards and catching a 16-yard TD pass from quarterback Josiah Morales.
“It feels really good. I just had to do what I had to do. I put in the work all season and left it all on the field today,” Brown said. “We knew we had to execute, do our assignments and play hard. We pushed that (blocking) sled up and down
the field all week long. We had to work hard if we wanted to come away with the victory.”
The Presidents scored first, with Lino Cortez taking it in from the 2 on the first play of the second quarter. The conversion pass made it 8-0. Central responded with a massive 19-play, 78-yard drive that took 9:39 off the clock with Ethan Scott scoring from the 10. In that drive, Scott carried 13 times — including the last eight — to get the Hilltoppers on the board.
But Harding answered with a 62-yard drive, all via the pass, as Morales connected with Brown on a 16-yard strike with just 28 seconds left in the quarter to take a 14-6 lead at the break.
The Presidents broke the game open in the third quarter as Brown scored on a 13-yard run and Morales bowled over from the 1 to make it 28-6 with 3:04 left.
“We were a little shaky in the beginning, a couple of fumbles, pre-game jitters but they overcame that and stayed with the game plan,”
said Santiago.
As for Brown?
“He’s a special young man,” Santiago said. “I’ve had him for three years. He’s been through some tough situations, but he’s dealt with it and he’s shown the ultimate grit.”
A 19-yard touchdown pass from Central QB Amadeus Bonilla to Jason Villa (who finished with five catches for 54 yards), cut the Harding margin to 28-12 heading into the fourth quarter. The Presidents, however, scored three times in the final 12 minutes — touchdown runs from Jordan Baskin, Cortina and
Brown — offsetting an 82-yard touchdown catch by Central’s Nielem Reid — to lock up their eighth straight series victory.
Central (0-10) has now lost 41 straight games dating back to the 2017 season, but second year coach Tom Broschardt clearly sees a light at the end of the tunnel.
“These guys never quit … they were hitting it. This is the city rivalry game and the score doesn’t tell the full story,” Broschardt said. “Villa had some great catches, he had a great game, so did Reed, he had a big game. We just didn’t make enough plays.
“We’re going to get there. Ethan Scott is coming back, the quarterback (Bonilla) is coming back, number 3 is coming back (Reid) … number 63 (Romario Sailsman), played great on defense, he’s coming back. We’ve got a bunch of the O and D lines coming back. We just have to get better. And we will.”
PLAYER OF THE GAME Harding’s Jaidon Brown:
Senior scored three touchdowns and intercepted a pass. He finished with 156 yards rushing on just 10 carries, scoring both his touchdowns on runs of 13 yards and catching a 16yard TD pass from quarterback Josiah Morales.
HARDING 49, CENTRAL 18
HARDING ..................... 0 14 14 21 — 49 CENTRAL ............................ 0 6 6 6 — 18 H — Lino Cortina, 2 run (Chavez Lavant pass Josiah Morales)
C — Ethan Scott, 10 run (run failed)
H — Jaidon Brown, 16 pass Josiah Morales (pass failed)
H — Brown, 13 run (Randy Washington pass Morales)
H — Morales, 1 run (pass failed)
C — Jason Villa, 19 pass from Amadeus Bonilla (run failed)
H — Jordan Baskins, 1 run (Lavant run)
H — Cortina, 2 run (Aiden Gordon kick)
C — Nielem Reid, 82 pass from Bonilla (pass failed)
H — Brown, 13 run (kick failed) Records: Harding 1-9, Central 0-10