The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

The Bridge City Cardinal football team earned their first win of the season by rolling over the Kelly Bulldogs 35-0. The Cardinals were spearheaded by junior running back Ashton Hunter as he ran wild for 300 yards on 27 carries while scoring one touchdown. Hunter also had another 46 yard touchdown called back or his numbers may well have been even more impressive. The tandem running back attack that Bridge City has displayed so far this season of Hunter and junior, Kruz Dearbonne was too much for the Bulldogs to handle. Dearbonne scored twice on short yardage situations and helped Bridge City move chains all night.

The Cardinal offense tallied nearly 400 yards on the ground and picked up 22 first downs on the night. Senior quarterback, Daniel Faulk continued to lead the Cardinals attack with timely completions through the air and good reads in the spread offense while rushing for one touchdown as well. Sophomore, Chase Shugart scored Bridge City’s final touchdown of the night on a nice run in the fourth quarter to complete the scoring for the Cardinals.

On the defensive side of the ball Bridge City completely shut down the Kelly offense by allowing them only five first downs and 72 total yards offense. Bridge City’s Dylan Sams was a constant disruption for the Kelly offense as he spent most of night in the Bulldog backfield. Sams recovered a pair of fumbles and had several tackles for losses. Middle linebacker and Captain Zach Cole also chipped in as he continually filled the running gaps and pounded the Bulldog runners at the line of scrimmage. The aggressive Bridge City defense put pressure on the Kelly quarterback all night and forced several errant passes which put the Bulldogs in tough situations all game.

The complete team effort in the win also got a boost from special teams play as the kicking game shined for the Cardinals. Sophomore Thomas Findlay was perfect on extra points and Daniel Faulk punted well the few times when the Cardinal offense stalled.

The contributions to the win came in several forms from a host of Cardinals and that is exactly what’s going to be needed when district play starts. The tough pre-season schedule that Bridge City has faced thus far should certainly go a long for preparing them what should be a great district race. The Cardinals are off this week and will resume play next week as they open district play against the Buna Cougars in Buna on Sept. 28.