BELLBROOK — In two varsity high school football games thus far, Bellbrook’s defense is looking as if it is playing in mid-season form.
A safety in the team’s opening win last week against Tipp City Bethel, is the only points Bellbrook has yielded to this point.
On Friday night, Bellbrook’s bruising defense held an ever improving Fairborn offense to zero points in a 28-0 win.
After the game, Golden Eagles coach Jeff Jenkins applauded his offense for continuing to improve. Then he yelled his approval for the kind of hard-nosed defensive brand of football his defense had just played.
“They’re getting better week to week,” Jenkins said. “They’re a young crew, and so improving with each week is important for us. We need to continue to develop as football players, and we got better this week.
“We had some pretty high aspirations for our defense, when this season began. We have pretty good speed, and some pretty physical and aggressive players there. We’re always going to hang our hat with our defense, and they really did a good job for us tonight.”
It was Fairborn’s defense that came up with the game’s first turnover, a Hunter Warner fumble recovery on Bellbrook’s 42-yard line, but the Bellbrook defense rose up and limited the Skyhawks to two yards on the possession. Fairborn punted, and Bellbrook drove 74 yards on 11 plays for the game’s first score.
Alex Westbrock connected with Ben Zerby for a 23-yard touchdown pass. A J0rdan Taylor extra point later, Bellbrook was out in front 7-0 with 5:42 left to play in the first quarter.
Bellbrook’s Ben Borszcz fell on a dropped Fairborn punt return at the Skyhawks’ 16 to set up the next Golden Eagles score. This time, Westbrock found J.R. McCormick for a 13-yard TD. Taylor’s PAT made it 14-0 Bellbrook with 5:57 left to play in the opening half.
With 23 seconds left in the half, Bellbrook’s defense scored. Borszcz picked up a Fairborn fumble on a quarterback sack, then raced the remaining 24 yards into the end zone for the score. Taylor’s kick then made it 21-0 at the half.
The second half saw both teams play rather evenly, until Bellbrook started a drive on Fairborn’s 47, then went eight plays and took advantage of a Fairborn offsides call on fourth down, for the game’s final score. Bellbrook sophomore running back Seth Borondy capped the drive off with an 8-yard run with 4:37 left to play. Taylor’s extra point made it 28-0, Golden Eagles.
Unofficially, Fairborn runners were held to 70 yards on 27 carries. Skyhawk quarterback Garison Secrest could only muster 78 yards passing on 8-of-16 pass tries.
Bellbrook amassed 227 total yards on offense, with Golden Eagle runners collecting 148 yards on 38 carries. Borondy led the runners with 60 yards gained on 15 carries. Westbrock connected on six passes out of 10 attempts for 79 yards.
Fairborn coach Randy Kerns knew his team would be tested on Friday.
“I told our coaches this week, it’s gonna be hard for us to score,” Kerns said. “In a system this new, we’re not sharp yet on offense. We’re not nearly where we need to be yet, so I knew it was going to be tough to score. We got some things going at times, and hit some nice plays, but we’re just not sharp enough on offense yet.”
Bellbrook has now won 15 straight regular season games. Their last regular season loss happened on Oct. 6, 2017 in a Southwestern Buckeye League game at Franklin. The Golden Eagles (2-0) head to New Carlisle to take on Tecumseh for their next game, on Friday, Sept. 13.
Fairborn (1-1) defeated Tecumseh in Week 1, and now heads north for its Week 3 contest, a Friday night Sept. 13 battle at Tipp City Tippecanoe.
Score By Quarters
Fairborn 0 0 0 0 — 0
Bellbrook 7 14 0 7 — 28
Scoring Plays
B — Ben Zerby 23 pass from Alex Westbrock (Jordan Taylor kick)
B — J.R. McCormick 13 pass from Westbrock (Taylor kick)
B — Ben Borszcz 24 fumble return (Taylor kick)
B — Seth Borondy 8 run (Taylor kick)
