The #21/22 Bridgewater College football team completed an undefeated regular season with a 41-7 victory over Guilford on Jopson Field.
Jay Scroggins completed 22-of-29 passes for 260 yards, three scores and no picks, while Albert Mensah rushed for a game-high 89 yards on 17 carries.
Gary Ramey Jr. had eight tackles to lead a defense that forced four turnovers and recorded another defensive score. Matt Dang totaled two tackles, a sack, an interception and two pass breakups.
The Eagles faced third-and-1 on their opening drive and a pull block by Jordan Waters helped break Mensah for 35 yards. Bridgewater would fumble it away at the opposing five yard line, but Trey Stephens returned a punt to the 19 and Devonte Smith caught a TD pass on the next play to get BC on the board.
Dang came flying in on a safety blitz to end the next Guilford drive. On the ensuing Quaker possession, a Braden Thomson tipped ball was pulled down by Chase Rosenthal to put BC in great field possession again. Scroggins hit Conner Kleffman two plays later for a 14-0 lead.
Mensah scored through a huge hole in the left side of the line to make it 20-0 in the second quarter. The defense forced their third turnover of the half after a big Guilford pickup, with Luke Barnum jarring the ball free and Joe Caron recovering.
Viante Tucker took a Scroggins rollout pass 45 yards for a third quarter touchdown that stretched the lead to 27-0. Brett Tharp scored on an 80-yard pick six and Cameron Williams pulled down a tough contested catch in the end zone for a 27-yard score that made it 41-0 Eagles.
Bridgewater pitched a first half shutout for the fifth time in 10 games, but was denied its first full blanking of the season when Jermaine Russell ran a kickoff back 100 yards late in the contest.
BC celebrated Senior Day for a graduating class of 21 players that led the Eagles back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2005. The group includes long snapper Zach Atkins, safety Brady Barefoot, cornerback Luke Barnum, Caron, Dang, wide receiver Jarrod Denham, linebacker Deshomd Denny, punter Jose Gonzalez, defensive tackle Julius Grant, offensive lineman Will Hoffman, defensive end TJ Jennings, Kleffman, tight end Grant Monson, linebacker Re’Shaun Myers, Ramey Jr., offensive lineman Ian Rhodes, wide receiver Nick Rivera, Scroggins, Stephens, Thomson and kicker Logan Weis.
Bridgewater (10-0, 8-0 ODAC) is hoping this was not the final home game for those seniors, as the Eagles will await the NCAA selection show tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. The team’s watch party will be livestreamed at: https://team1sports.com/
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Chris Graham
