By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
NEW ALBANY – New Albany coach Steve Cooley sheepishly issued the verdict “winning ugly.” Bedford North Lawrence would take that right now. On the verge of something new – a first victory – an old self-destructive problem resurfaced, and the Stars were sentenced to more misery.
BNL’s first possession of the second half ended in disaster, a blocked punt for a safety and New Albany momentum, and the Stars never recovered as the Bulldogs pulled away in the third quarter for a 22-12 triumph on Friday night. New Albany celebrated Homecoming with its third straight win, and the Stars limped home with their first winless start after four weeks in 10 years.
The Bulldogs also scored two touchdowns on fourth-down conversions, only deepening the BNL wound. After a solid start in the first half, including the first two rushing touchdowns of the season by Brody Horton, the Stars stagnated offensively, failing to take advantage of multiple chances to apply pressure.
“We didn’t take advantage of some opportunities, we left some plays out there,” BNL coach Derrick Barker said. “We gave up two touchdowns on fourth down, and that’s what really hurt. You’re a play away from getting off the field, and they’re scoring. That hurts. We didn’t make enough plays, we didn’t execute.”
The turning point came in the third quarter, with New Albany clinging to a 13-12 lead. Klay Kaiser stormed through to block Driven Axsom’s punt, and the Stars were fortunate the ball bounced out of the back of the end zone before Kaiser could corral it.
After the ensuing free kick, which was booted out of bounds to give New Albany excellent field position at its own 45, the Bulldogs made that mistake pay double dividends. R.J. Long broke off consecutive 11-yard runs, and Kaiser carried tacklers for 14 yards to the 13. Three plays later, he crashed to the goal line, but a dead-ball personal foul penalty pushed New Albany back to a first-and-goal from the 16. It didn’t matter. On fourth down from the 5, quarterback Kenneth Watson found favorite target Gavin Rand for the score and 10-point lead.
BNL had a fantastic chance to battle back early in the fourth quarter. Kaiser’s low punt was smothered by BNL’s Chase Rynders, the block giving the Stars a first down at the 15. But on fourth down at the 7, Dayson Kirby’s snap pass into the end zone was dropped, and the Stars would not come close again.
“They’re a hungry football team, they’re just trying to get a win, and they made some good plays,” Cooley said. “When they blocked it, I thought ‘Uh, oh, momentum is going the other way.’ But the kids responded.
“We came up big when we needed to. The defense played really well at times. Our defense is pretty good. We’re just going to get better and better.”
BNL’s highlights came in the first half. After New Albany finished its first drive with a 27-yard touchdown from Watson to Ray’von Farley (on fourth down), the Stars answered with the first Horton dash. After Axsom’s punt return set up the offense near the red zone, Horton broke loose, leaped through two defenders and won a footrace to the left corner of the end zone for a 26-yard touchdown and 6-6 deadlock with 1:12 left in the first period.
The Bulldogs countered that with a 75-yard march. Watson hit three straight completions, and Long ripped off a 24-yard score for a 13-6 advantage. BNL came back with its best sustained drive. Kirby scampered from the pocket for two runs, then found Parker Kern on the sideline for 32 yards. Horton then slashed through tacklers for his second score, dashing home from 18 yards.
“He did a tremendous job of reading his blocks, and that’s what he’s capable of,” Barker said. “We’ve known that all year. He works his rear off, he’s such a coachable kid and a really good player. We just haven’t been able to block to get anything going.”
BNL could not get anything going in the second half, managing only two first downs in that time span.
Kirby was 10 of 26 passing for 119 yards, Jaden Gilbert caught five passes for 64 yards, and Horton finished with 51 rushing yards.
Watson was 9 of 11 passing for 79 yards while Long ran for 72 yards. Rand added five catches for 60 yards, although New Albany (3-1, 2-0 in the Hoosier Hills Conference) was hampered by seven penalties. BNL was flagged nine times, but the blocked punt (the third this season) was the fatal blow. Every punt has become a hold-the-breath cringe moment.
“We gave away so many yards and points in the kicking game,” Barker said. “It’s been that way all season. It’s been an all-out effort to try and improve, but we haven’t got it done. From snaps, to kickoffs. It’s an execution thing. We have to do a better job of taking special teams seriously, do a better job of coaching it up.”
BNL (0-4, 0-2) will look to bounce back when it hosts Seymour next week. The Owls fell to 1-3 (and 0-3 in the league) with a 50-29 loss to Floyd Central.
Bedford NL 6 6 0 0 – 12
New Albany 6 7 9 0 – 22
First quarter
NA – Ray’von Farley, 27 pass from Kenneth Watson (kick failed), 5:14; BNL – Brody Horton, 26 run (kick failed), 1:12
Second quarter
NA – R.J. Long, 24 run (Armando Moran kick), 9:31; BNL – Horton, 18 run (kick failed), 3:42
Third quarter
NA – Safety, blocked punt out of end zone, 8:08; NA – Gavin Rand, 5 pass from Watson (Moran kick), 2:35
Team statistics
BNL – First downs 8 (1 by run, 6 by pass, 1 by penalty); Rushing 25-71; Passing 12-32-0-142; Total yards 213; Fumbles 1 (lost 0); Penalties 9-70
New Albany – First downs 13 (7 by run, 3 by pass, 3 by penalty); Rushing 47-70; Passing 11-18-0-97; Total yards 167; Fumbles 0; Penalties 7-55
Individual statistics
Rushing – (BNL) Kirby 14-29, Horton 9-51, Axsom 1-(-2), Ira 1-(-8); (NA) Kaiser 15-21, Watson 5-(-11), Long 23-72, Whitfield 2-(-12)
Passing – (BNL) Kirby 10-26-0-119, Ira 2-6-0-23; (NA) Watson 9-11-0-79, Goodman 2-7-0-18
Receiving – (BNL) Kern 2-38, Axsom 2-23, Gilbert 5-64, Horton 3-17; (NA) J. Farley 1-7, Rand 5-60, Kaiser 1–(-2), Whitfield 1-11, R. Farley 3-21
