In a game that held playoff position implications, the Drew Central Pirates welcomed the Barton Bears to Mike Pennington Stadium on Homecoming night on Friday, October 13.
After the pregame homecoming ceremony, the opening coin toss would be won by Barton who elected to defer to the second half.
Landon Hernedez kicked the ball away for the Bears and was taken at the Pirate 24 yard line by Game Butcher who returned the ball to the Pirate 34 with the ball coming loose but recovered by Drew Central’s Jayden Jones saving the possession for the Pirates.
Drew Central would start the drive with two run plays by Kalani Collins that gained two yards to the Pirate 36.
Drew Central would advance the ball to the Barton 49 and on the next play Jones would push the ball down to the Barton 35 but a block in the back penalty negated the play, bringing the ball back into Drew Central territory to the Pirate 36.
The Barton defense would force Drew Central to punt on the drive witth he ball going out of bounds at the Pirate 45.
Barton would advance the ball down to the Pirate 17 on a combination of run and pass plays with the majority of the carries taken by Quarterback Conner Willis.
Willis’s next pass from the 17 would be intercepted at the 16 by Hunter Phillips, ending the Bear possession.
Drew Central could not take advantage of the turnover with the Bear defense holding the Pirates to one yard, forcing the Pirates to punt the ball away with Barton’s Ne’Taveous Johnson taking the punt at the Barton 45 returning the ball to the Pirate 33 to begin the next drive.
Braylon Harvey moved the ball down to the 24 on the Bears first play of the drive followed by two more carries to get the ball to the 16.
Willis would connect with Quian Green on the next play for the 16-yard touchdown.
Green would connect with Hernedez on the two-point conversion to give the Bears an 8-0 lead with 3:28 remaining in the first quarter.
The Pirates next drive would result in a punt that would give the Bears possession on their own 47 yard line.
Barton’s next possession would move the ball into Drew Central territory but would stall at the Pirate 36 with 11:37 on the clock in the second quarter.
Drew Central’s first possession of the second quarter followed a recurring pattern with the Pirates being forced to punt the ball away with the Bears taking over at their own 30 yard line.
Drew Central’s defense would force the Bears to punt on their next possession with the Pirates taking over at their own 20 yard line.
Drew Central was able to get the ball out to the 50 before losing yardage on a false start penalty on a pass completion that resulted in a loss of yardage to force the PIrates to punt the ball with the Bears getting possession at their own 44.
Harvey moved the ball into Pirate territory to the Pirate 46 on the first carry of the drive followed by Johnson carrying the ball to the Pirate 36.
Willis would connect with La’Davion Willis on the next play to advance the ball to the Pirate eight.
After a run for no gain, Barton’s Dequincy Wilson would get the call for the eight yards and the Bear touchdown.
Hernedez added the extra point to extend the Bear lead to 15-0.
Drew Central would once again be forced to punt the ball on their next drive with the Bears getting possession at their own 42.
Barton would advance the ball down to the PIrate 45 yard line where Willis would connect with La’Davion Willis once again, this time for a 45-yard touchdown strike.
Hernedez added the extra point to give the Bears a 22-0 nothing lead heading into the halftime break
Drew Central would kick the ball away to begin the second half of play with Barton beginning their drive at their own 33 yard line.
On the first play from scrimmage of the third quarter, Willis connected with La’Davion Willis once again, this time for a 67-yard touchdown pass.
Hernedez missed the extra point as the Bears extended the lead to 28-0.
Drew Central’s first drive of the second half would begin on their own 47 after a kickoff return of 19 yards by Gabe Butcher.
After losing yardage, Quarterback Jase Watt would connect with Jayden Jones to advance the ball out to the Barton 48, but a false start penalty moved the ball back into Drew Central territory.
Watt’s next pass would be intercepted by Barton at the Barton 49 with offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties levied by the officials.
Barton would score on their next drive after a six-yard run by Harvey and an extra point by Hernedez gave the Bears a 35-0 lead putting the contest under the Sportsmanship Rule with a running clock for the remainder of the contest.
The Pirates had their best drive of the contest on their next possession, moving the ball down inside the Barton 10 yard line on pass completions to Brent Hornaday, Jayden Jones, and Luke Phillips, but the Pirates turned the ball over on downs as the quarter ended.
Barton added one more score to set up the final score of 42-0 with 7:19 remaining in the contest.
The Pirates will look to heal up some recent injuries in preparation for their final contest of the regular season contest after a two week break on Friday, November 3, hosting the Rison Wildcats at Mike Pennington Stadium.
