Posted Saturday, October 10, 2009 by Marty Morris

    














The Freshman Bruins beat the visiting Franklin Rebels 20-14 Thursday night breaking a long losing streak against our arch-rivals to the south. Coach Ron Crawford says this is the first Freshmen victory over the Rebs in his eight years as head coach at Brentwood. The cubs didn't make it easy proving to be generous hosts by turning the ball over to the Rebs 5 times on 4 fumbles and 1 interception. The true test of a team is how well they respond to adversity and this team of bears proved to be equal to the task allowing no points off of the turnovers. 

The game started with the Bruins moving the ball against the Rebs but both of the first 2 drives ended in fumbles at the Franklin 26 and 21. The defense held firm and on Brentwood's fourth drive of the night things started coming together as they drove 58 yards in 6 plays for their first TD of the night. The drive featured a nice swing pass from Austin Winfree to David Meehan for 22 yards, a 23-yard run by Austin Pennell and Jake Driver's 4th TD of the season. Each team traded more blows but the score remained 6-0 at the half.

Franklin took the 2nd half kickoff and had the ball only two plays when Ryan England tipped a Colson Patton pass into the hands of J.B. Calton, who returned the ball to the Reb 13. Austin Winfree needed just 2 carries to cover the distance scoring from the 6 yard line then jamming in the 2-point conversion to make it 14-0 Bruins. The two teams traded blows into the 4th quarter when Franklin finally managed to  put together a 46-yard 7-play drive to get on the scoreboard with 4:58 to go in the game, 14-7 Bruins.

The Bruins answered on their next possession when Ben Green's 6-yard plunge capped a 66-yard drive. The drive featured a dramatic sideline to sideline run by Jake Driver that was good for 53 yards. That made it 20-7 Bruins with 3:08 to play in the game.

There was still fight in the Rebels as they marched 64 yards in 5 plays, aided by 30 yards in pass interference penalties by Brentwood to close the gap to 20-14.

When Blake Chidester grabbed the ensuing on-side kick attempt at the Franklin 49 with 1:38 to go in the game it looked like this one was in the bag. But 2 plays later the fourth Bruin fumble of the game breathed life into the Rebs giving them the ball at their 36 yard line with 1:19 to play.

The old saying goes, when you throw a forward pass three things can happen and two of them are bad. That was the case for the Rebels as quarterback Patton heaved a long ball downfield and J.B. Calton, not happy with one interception already for the game, picked off his second pass and returned it 48 yards to the Franklin 18. At long last, it was victory formation time with Austin Winfree taking a knee twice to end it.

What a game!

The Freshman travel to Dickson County next Thursday, kickoff at 6:30.