A lot of offense, a little defense and a special teams play keep Bryan Station rolling
They say to be a really good team, you need to play well in all three phases of the game — offense, defense and special teams. By that measure, Bryan Station has all the boxes ticked. At least it did Friday night.
In a game filled with huge plays, the Defenders’ Damin Green provided the biggest with a 57-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that stole Paul Laurence Dunbar’s momentum and helped Bryan Station earn a 35-28 win on the Bulldogs’ home field.
“I was running, I got to the far outside and I saw the cut open,” Green said. “I knew we needed to make a big play, and I just had the daylight to get it open.”
Green’s score, the final touchdown of the night, came on the heels of what looked to be a pivotal moment for Dunbar. After turning Station over on downs on the Bulldogs’ 8-yard line near the the end of the third quarter, Dunbar drove all the way downfield for a tying touchdown on Frank Illunga’s 7-yard sweep into the end zone.
A back-and-forth game stood 28-28 with 11:54 to play in the fourth quarter.
Cue Green’s moment.
“We have so much talent laying around that we’re dangerous,” Bryan Station Coach Phillip Hawkins said. “On any given play we have the potential to go … . When I saw him get to the edge with nobody there — he just outran everybody.”
With nine touchdowns between them through barely more than three quarters, it didn’t figure the game would hinge on defense in the fourth.
But on Dunbar’s next series, Defenders cornerback JahDen Morton outran a Dunbar receiver to a deep ball and picked it off. Bryan Station had the ball and the lead with 10:19 to play.
The Dunbar defense subsequently held its ground and forced a punt, but Bryan Station’s defense had enough left to keep Dunbar from threatening again. And its offense converted enough first downs to run out the clock.
“We had to get some stops and make some plays, and we managed to get the job done every time,” senior defensive lineman Giovanni “Gio” Watson said of the fourth quarter. “They weren’t letting up. We weren’t letting up. It was just a dogfight.”
Watson had a highlight moment for himself along the way when he stabbed his left hand out to stop a Dunbar pass that nestled into his arms for the first interception of his career.
“I didn’t even know I had the ball,” he said, smiling. “It just happened.”
The game featured 435 total yards for Bryan Station and 387 yards for Dunbar. At times, each team looked unstoppable.
The game’s first two touchdowns came on a 61-yard pass from Bryan Station’s Mikaleb Coffey to Carl Munford followed by a shot from Dunbar’s Jake Smith to Illunga for a 42-yard TD play. Before halftime, Station’s Joseph Bond scored on a 1-yard and a 6-yard run and Dunbar answered each with TD passes from Smith to Howard Jackson for 17 yards and to Luke Olive for 63 yards to make for a 21-21 tie at the break.
On Bryan Station’s first offensive play of the second half, Bond turned around the right end and broke loose for a 72-yard touchdown to put his team up 28-21. Bond finished with 170 yards on 21 carries.
“We’ve worked hard all week, and we were ready,” Bond said. “It was wide open. My blockers made the play for me.”
Bryan Station’s Coffey completed 14 of 22 passes for 239 yards. Dunbar’s Smith went 12-of-23 for 249 yards and three TDs. Illunga led the Bulldogs in receiving with 97 yards.
Next up, Bryan Station (7-1) hosts Simon Kenton (3-5) as its final tuneup before the 8th District playoffs where it will be a No. 1 seed. Dunbar (3-2) goes to Lafayette (1-4) with a chance to secure the top seed in Class 6A’s 7th District.
This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 11:29 PM.
