Bloomingdale Head Coach John Booth said on Thursday that the first game is critical because it sets the tone for the season. On Friday Night at Billy Turner Field the Bulls did just that and in thrilling fashion over Chamberlain by a 25-20 margin. Bloomingdale tallied three unanswered TD’s in the 2nd Half after trailing 7-6 at the break on some timely completions from Junior QB Cody Crouse to fellow classmates Eugene Baker and Adam Posateri. Crouse was 5-6 during what was to be the winning drive capped by a 20yd strike to Posateri.
Chamberlain was not without its chances, but gave the ball away 6 times with Sophomore Josh Bennett throwing 4 interceptions. The Chiefs were looking like they had gained control going into the half on the strength of a 17 play, 67 yard drive that saw 16 of those plays on the ground. Junior RB Xavier Johnson was the work horse for the Chiefs (unofficially) with 26 carries for 92 yards and 2 TD’s. The CHS Special Teams also blocked a punt and the defense was able to produce 2 fumbles. In addition, they had kept Bloomingdale to less than 20 yards of offense in the 1st half.
The biggest play of the night came when Bloomingdale’s Adam Posateri returned a punt from 50 yards to put the Bulls up 25-14. At that point, Uncle “Mo” was completely on the side of the red and black. “For some reason we decided to play with 10 guys the entire night on special teams,” said Booth with a slight grin on his face. “When we finally got the right number of guys out there, we return the thing. Would be nice to play with eleven all the time.”
Chamberlain fought back late in the 4th Quarter and was at the Bloomingdale 5 when the clock expired. They also missed a 2-point conversion on a slant that left a few folks scratching their heads. Chamberlain was gashing the Bulls at that particular time. The Chiefs caused a fumble on the 1st play from scrimmage after the TD and that’s when they were able to get down to the Bloomingdale 5. The 4th Down pass from Bennett was broken up and the clock hit 0:00.
“We put a challenge to our Offensive Line tonight at the half. We wanted to get him (Crouse) into a rhythm. That big long drive really set the tone for the second half. That’s definitely where it changed for us.” Consider that mission accomplished then coach. Next week Bloomingdale (1-0) will head right down the road to Strawberry Crest (0-1) while Chamberlain (0-1) is already in a BYE week.