Prep football: Twelve Bridges continues its fairy-tale start with win over Center

With his team caught in a dogfight with Center on Friday night, Twelve Bridges coach Chris Bean took a timeout and went onto the field to bark at his players. The Raging Rhinos had lined up incorrectly and Bean was ticked off. They needed to be straightened out.

Lineman Nick Ochoa wasn’t having it. The big man stopped his coach.

“Every time you come out here like that, you bring us down,” Bean recalled Ochoa telling him. “And I’m like, ‘You’re right, bro. You’re right.’”

With the coach sent back to the sideline, Twelve Bridges players proceeded to put the game away, sealing a 39-27 win over Center. Just another remarkable day in the life of the Rhinos.

Twelve Bridges is a first-year varsity program with no seniors on the roster. Yet the Raging Rhinos are 6-1 and at least toying with the idea they could win a Pioneer Valley League title. The team is officially in uncharted territory now. Bean, eyes bulging and head shaking after the game, says he’s mostly content to just take it all in and enjoy the magic.

Is he surprised to be 6-1?

“A lot surprised. A lot surprised,” he said. “It’s a cliche, but you don’t know what you don’t know. And trying to explain that atmosphere to a group of kids that have never played a varsity football game: You don’t know what you don’t know.

“And I guess in some ways, maybe it’s working to our advantage because they just kind of show up and go hard and see what happens. And I think to be honest with you, they’re shocked when they lose.”

Other teams are taking notice. Center coach Digol JBeily said before the contest, “If I wasn’t coaching I would probably come buy a ticket myself and watch a game.”

He would have seen an entertaining tilt.

Twelve Bridges tried to pull away but Center pushed and shoved – literally – back into the game. An offensive lineman carried running back Benny Tafoya into the end zone for one Cougars score. Quarterback Bradley Kenny, who had a beautiful touchdown run himself, hit wide-open Joe Velasquez for a score to cut the Twelve Bridges lead to 25-20 with 1:26 remaining in the third quarter.

But in veteran fashion, Twelve Bridges responded with a six-minute, 13-play scoring drive. Junior running back Nathan Crawford plunged in from the 1-yard line and then celebrated with his teammates. Fittingly, it was a big play that sealed the game for Twelve Bridges. Junior running back Anthony Gallagher screamed 52 yards untouched to give the Rhinos a 39-20 lead with 4:44 remaining.

If you’re looking for an easy theme, the Rhinos relied on big plays Friday. Crawford went 80 yards on a broken pass play for the first score of the game. Twelve Bridges quarterback Whit Kruse had 272 yards passing on just nine completions in the first half alone. He finished with 348 yards and two touchdowns. The win was just another notch in the belt for Crawford and his teammates.

“We definitely know our potential and what we can get to, this here was definitely a step up from the last game,” he said. “Like coach said, play for four quarters and everyone just played their ass off.”

Receiver Isaiah Rodriguez had six receptions for 181 yards and a touchdown in the first half. After catching a 55-yard score, the raucous student section chanted “he’s a sophomore.” Rodriguez didn’t notice. He had other things on his mind.

“I didn’t really I didn’t hear anything. I was just focused. I was ready,” he said. “The first pass thrown my way, I dropped it. I gotta get my head in the game. I knew it. So I said, ‘Let’s go turn up.’ I went out there, did my thing.”

Yeah, Twelve Bridges is young. The Rhinos do not lack confidence. Asked if he had one step or two steps on his man, Rodriguez smiled. Two, obviously.

They’ll need that confidence. Up next, after a bye week, is Sutter, a perennial state title contender and new entrant to the Pioneer Valley League. After the game, Bean encouraged his team to enjoy the win over Center, often one of the top teams in the PVL. “That’s a big boy win right there,” he told his boys.

But Sutter is something else. Bean joking pleaded with reporters not to hype up the game because he knows a win is a very long shot. But, you know, so was starting the year 6-1 with a bunch of underclassmen.

“You know, part of it is we have to be realistic on this one, right? There’s a gap. There’s a gap between Sutter and everybody else in that league,” Bean said. “And we know that. I think Sutter probably understands that too.

“And so for us, it’s not so much to measure up against Sutter. It’s measuring ourselves. And right now we’ve been really good about measuring ourselves and just trying to put these wins together. But the task of Sutter is daunting…. But these kids aren’t going to back down. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. They’re never going to back down.”