A long, slow, chilly contest came to a sudden, thrilling, heated end last Friday, as the Bainbridge High School varsity football team squeaked to a 10-7 win against the visitors from Chief Sealth in the last game of the regular season to be held in Memorial Stadium.
The big win left the Spartans undefeated on their home turf this season.
The victory also earned the island squad a place in the playoffs and upped their overall record to 4-3 (2-all in conference), securing the third-place spot in the Metro League’s Sound Division standings, behind only Ballard (4-0 in conference) and Ingraham (3-1).
They will travel for the last game of the regular season on Friday, Oct. 25 to play against the undefeated Ballard Beavers (7-0 overall).
So far, the Spartans have managed to win every single game they played at home, and lose every one on the road.
“I’m glad we didn’t break the pattern here,” said BHS Head Coach Jeff Rouser, lamenting the previous week’s loss to Ingraham on the road. “Last week I was like, ‘We’re going to break the pattern!’ And we should have, we played a good football game.
“We had momentum, they fumbled, we thought we had the ball, they said no.”
Friday’s game marked a return to form and also Senior Night, and the team’s upperclassmen — P.J. Miller, Franco Abullarade, Quinn Millerd, John Devlin, Alex Ledbetter, Charlie Hughes, Matthew McCann, Spencer McCoskery, Elliot Weaver, Brett Dudgeon, Sio Peato, Tyler Weaver and Isaiah Bjorgen — were recognized, along with the seniors of the marching band and cheer squad, during halftime.
Several of the seniors were four-year vets of the football program, who had been freshmen when Rouser first took over.
It was, the coach said, a bittersweet moment for him.
“First of all, they’re just great people,” he said. “They’re great leaders. They’re the guys, a couple of them, were the guys who helped start this program and our philosophy.”
At least two star Spartans were very nearly wearing other colors, the coach recalled.
“O’Dea was recruiting [Ledbetter] and I called him the first night that I was coach and tried to sway him and his parents to stay — I’m not saying that’s why they did, but I’m sure it helped,” he said. “And [Devlin], John was at O’Dea as a freshman and he came back here. [Weaver] started as a freshman, too.
“All these guys are just quality individuals and they’ve led by example and I’m really, really proud of them and really happy they got this win today. They stepped up when they had to.”
That they did, though there were some seat edges being sat on for sure.
Bainbridge got inside the red zone three times in the first half Friday, but could only come away with a field goal.
“We make it more exciting than we need to,” Rouser laughed. “We had like 200 yards in the first half and we couldn’t get the damn score.”
There was then plenty of offensive scrambling, but few points scored, before a huge 75-yard punt return by junior Cal Breen put Bainbridge ahead for good.
“Cal’s a player,” Rouser said in the wake of the win. “That guy, he’s getting more and more confident every game. I just want to get him more touches.”
Overall, the coach said, the team was thinking of last Friday very much like a playoff game — and they had to.
“It was important to us,” he said. “We are in the playoffs now because of this game.”
BHS’ now-notorious defense played very tough yet again, as well.
“We had a hell of a defensive effort tonight,” the coach said.
A big stop by Bainbridge’s defense on 4-and-1 inside their own 20-yard line with less than a minute to go sealed the victory.
The island squad rushed 182 yards total, led handily by Breen (81 yards).
Abullarade managed 34 yards; Devlin, 30; Mielke, 30; and Ledbetter, three.
Devlin was everywhere on Senior Night. He started at quarterback, played special teams, and racked up six tackles, two sacks, one tackle for loss, two QB hurries, one tipped pass, and multiple assists. He also led the team in passing yards, racking up 41 by going 5-for-9.
Junior Austin Coupland (one catch for 19 yards) was the receiving leader.
Abullarade finished with one catch for 10 yards; Mielke two for nine yards; and Breen one for three yards.
Defensively, Peato was his usual stalwart self, wrapping the game with five tackles, one tackle for loss, and multiple assists.
Additionally, Ledbetter had five tackles and multiple assists; Abullarade six tackles and multiple assists; McCann six tackles and multiple assists; Tyler Weaver five tackles and multiple assists; Hughes one interception, five tackles, two blocked passes, and multiple assists; Dudgeon three tackles, one sack, and multiple assists; freshman Sasha Herrmann notched three tackles and multiple assists; Miller two tackles and multiple assists.
Juniors Brian Taylor, Mielke, and Breen had two tackles and multiple assists, three tackles and multiple assists, and two tackles, multiple assists, and multiple pass defenses, respectively.
