(Story by Riley Griffith), (Photo gallery by Teran Malone)
NEW CUMBERLAND, W.Va. — The Berkeley Springs Indians were able to pick up their second win of the season against the Oak Glen Golden Bears with a final score of 27-12 on Saturday afternoon.
Berkeley Springs would start the contest gaining a first down but would ultimately punt the ball away. Punter D.J. Hinkle sent a booming punt that would be downed by Berkeley Springs at the Oak Glen 3-yard line.
Oak Glen would go three-and-out and punt the football back to the Indians. On third-and-11, senior quarterback Aiden Cain connected on a jump ball with sophomore wide receiver Kyle Moore from 35 yards out for the first points of the game. Hinkle connected on the PAT to make it 7-0
Golden Bear quarterback Glenn Adams threw an interception to Indian linebacker Owen Kemmerer early in the second quarter that allowed Berkeley Springs to take over in Golden Bear territory. That offensive drive would culminate with a two-yard rushing touchdown from running back Trenton Wheeler. The Indians went up 13-0 after the PAT was blocked by the Golden Bears.
The rushing attack of the Golden Bears was primarily held in check by the Indians thanks to the play of defensive lineman Brian Ailor and Krystian Norris, but on a crucial third down it was Devan Juscszak bounced an inside run to the right for a 47-yard touchdown.
“One thing we still are working on and have struggled at has been defending runs that come right at us,” said Indians head coach Wes Eddy. “We had a couple breakdowns, but we stuffed them a lot and caused a couple turnovers that really helped us in this game.”
The game would go to the half with a 13-6 lead for the Indians. Both teams had their defense shine in the third quarter with the Indians forcing Glenn Adams to throw his second interception of the day to defensive back Kyle Moore. The Golden Bear defense would hold strong though and would turn the Indian offense over on downs twice in the third quarter.
In the game’s final frame, Indian running back Trenton Wheeler would run for his second touchdown of the day from 12 yards out to make the score 20-6. A quarterback change came for Oak Glen on the next drive as they turned to senior Gregg Sauers.
Sauers would connect on the sideline to Devan Juszczak and would cap off a late scoring drive by connecting for a 13 yard touchdown to tight end Lucas Zoellers. The PAT would be no good making the score 20-12.
The Golden Bears attempted an onside kick which was recovered by Berkeley Springs. With Oak Glen using their last timeout, Berkeley Springs just had to get a first down to put the game to rest. On a second down for the Indians, a handoff from Cain to Wheeler had confusion and caused a fumble that Oak Glen would recover at the Indian 40 yard line.
With new hope to tie the game, it would come down to a fourth down attempt for the Golden Bears. Sauers would throw the football into the hands of Kyle Moore for his second interception of the day. Moore would return that interception for 60 yards for a touchdown to firmly slam the door for a Golden Bear comeback attempt. The clock would shortly thereafter hit all zeros, and the Indians would pick up their first road victory since November 5th of 2021.
“For the whole year we’ve talked about us putting a whole game together”, said Eddy, “Today may have finally been that game where we played tough and focused for all four quarters and we have a victory to show for it.”
Berkeley Springs improves to 2-3 and will face Philip Barbour this Friday. Oak Glen drops to 0-5 and will travel to Catholic Central of Steubenville, Ohio this Friday.