Goodpasture football has made history.
The Cougars (3-0) did something on Friday night they hadn’t done in 14 years: beat the Battle Ground Academy Wildcats (2-1).
After winning their first two games of the season, the Cougars came out of the gate hot as they marched down the field and capped off a 13-play opening drive with a one-yard Cooper Pennington rushing touchdown. Goodpasture went up 6-0 and BGA didn’t get to run its first offensive play until the 4:58 mark of the first quarter.
BGA only ran three plays in the first quarter as a quick three-and-out put the ball right back into the hands of the Cougars.
Goodpasture efficiently made their way down the field as another long drive was finished by Pennington. This time it came via a four-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Brendan Jones. The extra point was successful and Goodpasture seemed to be in full control up 13-0 early in the second quarter.
But BGA bounced back on the ensuing possession. A 48-yard kickoff return put the Wildcats at midfield and several plays later, BGA running back Sean Williams scored from four yards out to cut the deficit to 13-7 with under four minutes left in the half.
The one-score game lasted only a few seconds as Jones took the kickoff 95 yards to the house. The speedy Jones’ touchdown gave Goodpasture a 19-7 lead after a failed extra-point attempt.
BGA didn’t go into the halftime break with that 12-point deficit as they strung together a short drive that culminated in a one-yard quarterback sneak by Wildcat signal caller Brett Brown with five seconds left. Goodpasture’s lead was trimmed to 19-14 at the break.
BGA finally took its first lead of the game on the first drive of the second half. Starting on the Goodpasture 14-yard line following an excellent kickoff return, BGA’s other quarterback that took snaps, Miller Barnett, scored on a sneak of his own from one yard out. BGA led 20-19 after a failed two-point conversion.
The Goodpasture passing game, which was efficient all night as Pennington completed 12 of 13 throws, set up the next Cougar score when Pennington found David Harris for a 23-yard gain that later resulted in another quarterback sneak touchdown from Pennington. The two-point conversion failed and with three minutes left in the third quarter, the Cougars led 25-20.
By this point, the early BGA three-and-out seemed like a distant memory as they got back in front for the half’s third lead change when a 68-yard drive resulted in yet another touchdown via QB sneak from Brown. The Barnett rush on the two-point conversion was successful and with 8:31 left, BGA was back up 28-25.
Down three in the fourth quarter, Pennington and the Goodpasture offense trotted back onto the field and gashed the Wildcat defense with a slew of dives and quarterback draws that resulted in some big gains from the Cougar quarterback.
“We kept running the same concept,” Pennington said after the win. “They weren’t adjusting so we kept pounding it and pounding it.”
The drive ended with a one-yard run from running back Jaron Elkins and with the successful two-point attempt, Goodpasture went up 32-28 with 4:51 remaining.
Following a BGA three-and-out and Goodpasture’s first punt of the game, the Wildcat offense had a chance to win the game with 1:27 left on the clock and no timeouts.
Brown connected on a few passing plays to receiver Daniel Morra to move the chains. On third-and-eight with 41 seconds left, Brown found Kentrez Jordan on a 15-yard pass play to pick up a critical first down to move into Cougar territory. Following a spike and three straight incompletions, BGA committed its first turnover of the game with a turnover on downs with only 24 seconds left. One kneel down by Pennington later, Goodpasture’s first win over its region rival since 2006 was made official by a score of 32-28.
Jones finished the night with 74 receiving yards, 37 rushing yards and 100 return yards, including the 95-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
“The kick return was all on our kickoff team blocking and getting on their blocks,” Jones said. “We worked on that all week because we struggled with it last week, but they all came together and did their job this time.”
The quick passing game that set up easy rushes was key to Goodpasture’s offensive success.
“We knew that we could kill them with the short passing game and then just running up the middle so we just pounded that all night, and they weren’t adjusting to it so we just kept pounding and they couldn’t stop it,” Jones said.
The victory was a signature one for first-year Goodpasture coach Tyler Turner.
“We’re trying to create the mentality around here that any time we touch the field, we have a chance to win,” Turner said. “We’re trying to bring the swagger back to Goodpasture. These kids worked their tails off all summer and have worked their tails off all season to win games like this.
“I think our conditioning came into (play). Our guys were still going, and they had some big players going down late in the game and that hurt. Thankfully our guys did a good job all summer with taking conditioning seriously and taking care of their bodies, and I’m very proud of them.”
TEAM STATS
Rushing Yards: BGA (37 rushes, 168 yards), Goodpasture (33 rushes, 162 yards)
Passing Yards: BGA (5/16 for 54 yards), Goodpasture (12/13 for 134 yards)
Total Yards: BGA (222 yards), Goodpasture (296 yards)
Yards Per Play: BGA (4.19), Goodpasture (6.43)
Penalties: BGA (7), Goodpasture (6)
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Passing: Brett Brown (BGA)- 5/15, 54 yards. Miller Barnett (BGA)- 0/1. Cooper Pennington (Goodpasture)- 12/13, 134 yards, 1 TD.
Rushing: Sean Williams (BGA)- 12 rushes, 97 yards, 1 TD. Miller Barnett (BGA)- 13 rushes, 33 yards, 1 TD. Brett Brown (BGA)- 7 rushes, 26 yards, 2 TD. Zach Flores (BGA)- 3 rushes, 5 yards. Collin Cornett (BGA)- 2 rushes, 7 yards.
Cooper Pennington (Goodpasture)- 17 rushes, 80 yards, 2 TD. Jeremy Seepaul (Goodpasture)- 2 rushes, 0 yards. Brendan Jones (Goodpasture)- 5 rushes, 37 yards. Jaron Elkins (Goodpasture)- 10 rushes, 46 yards, 1 TD.
Receiving: Daniel Morra (BGA)- 3 catches, 31 yards. Sean Williams (BGA)- 1 catch, 7 yards. Kentrez Jordan (BGA)- 1 catch, 16 yards.
Brendan Jones (Goodpasture)- 9 catches, 74 yards, 1 TD. Andrew McWilliams (Goodpasture) – 2 catches, 17 yards. Josh Williams (Goodpasture)- 1 catch, 20 yards. David Harris (Goodpasture)- 1 catch, 23 yards.
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