Wednesday night, September 11th, Brunswick Junior Varsity (BJV) Football team played Tuscarora (TJV) Football team at Tuscarora High School. Brunswick won the coin toss and elected to receive. On the first two drives for both teams, they both had to punt the ball. While both teams had to punt TJV was starting out hot, with the first drive #10 for TJV had a 16 yard rush. Luckily Jacob Marker (middle linebacker) was able to get a crucial tackle for a loss for BJV forcing TJV to punt. The same thing happened on the second drive of the game. BJV couldn’t get anywhere and TJV moved the ball a little but with a crucial tackle from Brenton Johnson, Brunswick freshman, (free safety). BJV was able to force TJV to punt.
On BJV’s third drive they moved the ball a little bit up the field with Carter Mets, Brunswick sophomore, having a five yard rush. Then #16 on TJV caught an interception. After this BJV’s defense struggled to contain TJV’s run game. TJV’s running back #12 had a 13 yard rush where he fumbled but he was able to recover his own fumble. And to end the first quarter TJV’s quarterback #23 had a 9 yard rush.
Heading into the second quarter TJV’s offense was in the red zone 16 yards out of a touchdown and on the first play of the new quarter #12 (running back) took it in for a TJV touchdown putting TJV up 6-0. Now TJV’s field goal attempt was no good, so there was a positive for BJV, that if they came out and scored a touchdown and made their field goal, they would have the lead.
The offense came out looking ready to go all just to disappointingly end the drive with a punt. Not even getting a first down. TJV came out looking to score more. They ran a little bit, but this time they were looking to the air to score. On second down #47 on TJV caught a pass over top of (also known as a head tap) freshman, John (Johnny) Lusby (corner), to score TJV’s second touchdown. Now Lusby is a 9th grader who just moved to Brunswick High School from Tuscarora Middle School, so this was a game against some of his old classmates, so he needed to get some revenge on the next TJV offensive possession.
It was BJV’s fifth drive of the night and they were still looking for their first first down. Unfortunately they had to punt again not even getting a first down. When BJV’s defense came out, you could see the fire in Lusby’s eyes. He was raring to go, and two plays in he got his revenge with an interception to give BJV the ball back. Lusby was asked after the game, “You were playing against your old team tonight, Tuscarora, what were your goals for this game?” Lusby said:
“To get at least one interception and I did that!”
Lusby was then asked, “What was going through your head? What did you see on the read?”
Lusby responded, “I was backing up and I saw the guy coming across. Saw the guy throwing the ball, sprinted across the field, jumped up and picked that.” Lusby did just that, it was a crucial interception to give BJV some momentum against Lusby’s old team.
Now the fans were starting to wonder if BJV would ever get a first down. Luckily on this sixth drive Logan Kisselbach, freshman, (running back) finally was able to get BJV’s first first down on a run play. Using Kisselbach to run the ball down field BJV was looking at a second and one after a nine yard rush from Kisselbach. If they got the first down BJV would have a first and goal. BJV failed to complete a pass on second down. On third and one BJV went back to the air and #42 for TJV gets a pick and runs it up the field 50 yards before being tackled. This was now Brunswick sophomore Cole Hoffman’s (quarterback) second interception throw of the game. On the tackle unfortunately #42 got injured, which you never like to see young athletes get hurt just trying to play a game they love. Every player and coach took a knee and when the kid walked off the field every fan clapped and cheered for #42, showing Brunswick’s character as a community.
Now TJV with a minute and some change on the clock had to be fast, and fast they were. They got down to the six yard line with five seconds on the clock TJV ran a run play to the right that Owen Nugent, Brunswick freshman, shut down by getting the tackle right on the one yard line to stop TJV from scoring before the end of the first half. Going into halftime the score was 13-0: TJV.
Coming out after half time into the third quarter things were not looking good for BJV. TJV was receiving as BJV was down 13-0. To make matters worse for BJV, TJV would have a 30 yard return, starting with the ball on their own 40 yard line. TJV was able to take advantage of their lead and great field positioning to get into the redzone on a pass interference play. Now Johnson and others would try to help BJV by getting a few tackles, but eventually TJV would get another touchdown. This one scored by their quarterback #23, with a one yard rushing touchdown. The extra point was good and this would put TJV up 20-0.
BJV came back out with another disappointing drive and had to punt once again. And once again TJV would march down field to really seal the game with another rushing touchdown from their quarterback. To really put the nail in the coffin, TJV went for a two point conversion and successfully completed it with their running back #12 running in the ball for the extra two points. That ended the third quarter with BJV down 28-0.
Going into the fourth quarter BJV was looking for a miracle to win this ball game. Nevertheless, BJV would give it their best shot. Unfortunately, on third and long Hoffman would get sacked forcing BJV to punt once again. TJV started to take the ball back down field, but on a QB (quarterback) run, #23 for TJV fumbled and Joseph (CJ) Watts, Brunswick sophomore, was able to recover the fumble, making it BJV’s ball. With this morale and momentum boost BJV came out looking for their first touchdown, and they got it. Cole Renn, Brunswick freshman, had a 10 yard receiving catch to set up a first and goal for BJV, and on third and goal, Hoffman ran it in for a touchdown. Finally putting BJV on the board. But Hoffman wouldn’t stop there. BJV lined up for a two point conversion and Hoffman fought his way through TJV’s defensive line to complete the two point conversion play. Making the score a bit more respectable now being 28-8 in the favor of TJV.
After the game Hoffman was interviewed, BJV’s quarterback, about the game and this is what he had to say:
So you had a touchdown and a two point conversion. They were very impressive, what was going through your head on the two runs?
“We just had to push and the linemen did really well, opened holes and we got it done,” he shared.
Do you feel the offense executed the game plan today? If not, where did you guys fall short?
“We definitely have improvements to make but will get there. I mean we did well in the run game, we just got to work on our pass game and will be there.”
What do you feel like you can improve on after today’s game?
“Leadership. I can help people out more and I can just amp them up a little bit and get the team going.”
Do you feel that the offense maintained enough focus and intensity throughout the full game?
“Yeah, we kept it, we were good but we just had a few rough plays and then that’s what led to the bad drives, then we gave up the ball.” Hoffman really emphasized how he wanted to step up to be more of a leader for this team and I can’t wait to see that in future games in the next few weeks.
After the Hoffman touchdown and two point conversion BJV attempted and failed an onside kick. With less than two minutes left on the clock TJV would run down the clock until this football game ended with a final score of 28-8 in a win for TJV. Not the outcome BJV was looking for. Here were Brenton Johnson’s (free safety) thoughts on the game:
Johnson, do you feel the defense played as one whole unit this game? he was inquired, “Yes, I believe while we might need some tweaks with tackling and other stuff we worked as a team and did our very best,” Johnson responded.
How do you feel your performance was today and what could you improve on?
“I feel my performance was good enough. Something I could improve on is definitely tackling. There were sometimes when I would just run in there, guns ablaze and just expect the best.”
Well you did have five tackles so I want to know what was going through your head when you were going for those tackles and when you were lined up in the back before the snap?
“Before the play even starts I’m asking myself where will they start running because if you look at it, it’s actually quite obvious. When I’m about to tackle someone I think, they’re not my friend, I’m there to win and while we might not have won this game we will win the others.”
How will the defense bounce back after this tough loss on the road next week?
“We have already bounced back, will play better, will tackle better, will play as a team better, will just be better in general, we will be the best!”
Many are looking forward to seeing BJV’s defense next week after those fiery comments from Johnson. BJV will play Boonsboro next week on September 18th at 7:00 P.M. So if you’re looking to see some great JV football, go to Boonsboro High School next Wednesday to catch the game.
While BJV lost today, making them 1-1 on the season. Fans saw a lot of great things to look out for in the coming weeks and years from this team. In a few years when they are on varsity, they could have a shot at the Maryland state championship. They got a great coach, in Coach Smith, and many have confidence in BJV.