Senior running back Corey Touchette ran for 182 yards and a score to lead Bainbridge past Bishop Blanchet 17-3 Friday night at Memorial Stadium in front of a packed house for its annual Homecoming game.
The win avenges three years of close losses to the Braves – a 20-18 defeat in 2007, a 7-0 defeat at home in 2008 and a 17-14 loss last year.
“We’ve been burning for this (win) for three years,” Touchette said. “We had a lot of guys step up and that’s amazing to see, especially when you come out on top for Homecoming.”
Down 3-0 in the first quarter, junior Chris Bell – making his first varsity start ever in place of a suspended Carson Zajonic – threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to JJ Wilford.
“I felt pretty comfortable,” Bell said of his spot start. “We had a good week of practice, so I felt comfortable that I could come in and do the job.”
But the Spartan offense stalled after that, turning the ball over when Touchette fumbled deep in Brave territory in the second quarter. He had caught a 22-yard pass from Bell on a fake punt on the previous play. Nick Miller also fumbled deep in Brave territory in the third quarter to kill another Spartan drive.
The Bainbridge defense kept the Blanchet offense from making any kind of an impact, intercepting four passes on the night to stop drives. Alex Coplan had two picks while Eric Raustein and Miller had interceptions as well.
“Our defense kept us in it,” head coach Andy Grimm said. “They did it while our offense was sputtering and sputtering. They really stuck with it.”
In the fourth quarter, the Spartans finally got on the board when Will Deveraux kicked a 25 yard field goal. He had missed a 38 yard try in the third quarter.
After forcing a Brave punt, Touchette broke several tackles en route to a 78-yard run that was the nail in the coffin for Blanchet.
“I followed my blockers all the way,” Touchette said. “(Center) Alex Grimm made a great block downfield and I just made my cut off of that.”
Blanchet coach Alex Maul said they knew they had a tough task ahead of them.
“We needed to take care of ourselves,” he said. “Tonight, offensively we didn’t take care of ourselves.”
Grimm said that Zajonic and Alex Crane had to sit due to two different disciplinary issues. He declined further comment on the matter.
“We had to adjust,” he said. “I give (Blanchet) credit – they scheme us well and we haven’t adjusted to it. Tonight, our kids did better in adjusting to it than we have in the past three years.”
Jordan Ashton and Sam Orrey both left the game with injuries. Grimm said Ashton was out with a thigh injury, but wanted to talk to the team doctor to confirm Orrey’s injury.
Bainbridge (1-0 league, 4-0 overall) travel to West Seattle Stadium next Friday to play Seattle Prep (1-0 league, 3-1 overall). Game time is at 7 p.m.