UNION CITY – Mississinawa made big plays on defense to spark their football team to a hard
fought 12-6 win over Bradford for their first win of the season and completing a successful
senior night celebration.
Those seniors were Zach Connor, Colby Manning, Caiden Beanblossom, Jesse Ramirez, Colton
Hardwick, Hawk Thomas, Trey Godfrey and Jared Teagarden.
The Hawks were coming off one of their most successful years ever in football having reached
the playoffs last year and graduating a very skilled senior class. The excitement for football is
strong but the skill positions is very young.
On the other side of the field Bradford also was fielding a young team. The two teams came
into the contest 0-2 and looking to chalk up an important win for their program.
Bradford was able to stop the Hawks 2nd possession on downs at the 10-yard line.
Bradford marched a full 90-yards mixing up the pass and run capping the drive with a 6-yard TD
toss from quarterback Tevin Felver to Taven Leach at the 9:23 mark of the second quarter. The
extra point attempt failed but the Roaders went up 6-0.
The score would remain at 6-0 going into the half.
Mississinawa continued to struggle on offense in the second half but got a huge shot in the arm
from their defense.
Sophomore Drew Anguiano jumped a pass over the middle at full speed and then like a bullet
took it to the house in the opposite direction for a 60-yard score at the 5:58 mark of the third
quarter. The two-point conversion failed and the game was knotted at 6.
“We needed a spark and Drew provided that at a critical time for this team with that
interception,” Mississinawa Valley head coach Steven Trobridge said.
Bradford was moving the ball well … but again it was the defense getting them out of jamb.
Junior Davian Trump intercepted a pass on the 30 yard to squelch the drive.
Mississinawa was finally able to move the ball into the red zone but it was Bradford’s turn to
stiffen and rise to the challenge turning away the Blackhawks and sending the game to
overtime.
In overtime each team gets a possession at the 20-yard line.
The Hawks won the toss and went first and road the legs of senior Zach Connor for two tough
carries for 16 yards getting them down to the 4 yard line.
Freshman quarterback Dylan Wehrkamp finished it by going around the right side where he was
met at the goal line and corner pylon. He had just enough of the ball breaking the plane for the
4-yard TD giving MV a 12-6 advantage.
“We’re young and lost a lot of skill players from last year and replacing those positions with
freshman and sophomores sometimes takes a while to figure out. Late in the second half and
overtime I told our offensive coordinator, go back to basics, trust our line and take care of the
football,” MV’s Trobridge stated
“Zach is our only returning skill guy from last year as a receiver and we are asking him to play
QB, RB and WR on offense. He stepped up as a senior leader to set-up that last score,”
Trobridge praised.
Bradford took their turn in overtime but after a penalty they were starting on the 35 instead of
the 20 and then fumbled the ball to end their chance to tie or win the game.
“All year we have shot ourselves in the foot to the point we can’t dig ourselves out and tonight
was a perfect example. We probably should have gone up 21-0 … but had a penalty on the first
play of the game, at the end of the first half and in the overtime period. We had a number of
bad or dropped snaps, fumbles, and it eventually cost us,” Bradford head coach Marcus Calvert
stated.
“We played hard tonight but we have to find a way to get over the hump. We’ve been losing
for a long period of time and we’re trying to change that culture here,” Calvert said.
We are starting 4 freshman and 5 sophomores and only have two juniors on the team but we’ll
figure this thing out, we just have to keep working hard,” Calvert concluded.
The play of Bradford didn’t go unnoticed by MV coach Steven Trobridge.
“Hats off to Bradford they are young just like us, but you can see them getting better every
game,” Trobridge commented.
But it was the Hawks defense shining bright as Jesse Ramirez recovered a roader fumble in OT
to preserve the win.
It wasn’t pretty offensively for either team but a couple of MV Players stood out on defense.
Senior Trey Godfrey had 20 tackles and now has 71 total tackles this year. Freshman Landon
Gahret had 9 tackles and 2 sacks.
“Trey Godfrey leads this defense and he’s a one of a kind type player and I was very happy with
his effort and our defense as a whole, they came up big tonight,” Trobridge concluded.
