By RICK SPRUNGER
HARTFORD CITY — “An ugly win is better than a pretty loss,” said Bluffton coach Brent Kunkel, his face displaying a thin, wan smile after watching his rout Blackford, 42-14, Friday night in opening round Class 2A sectional action.
At least he was smiling.
Although winning and losing was never going to be an issue Friday night, Bluffton’s victory was hardly a thing of art.
Blackford, now a 1-9 team, was within 21-14 of the Tigers early in the third quarter before the Parlor City crew put things away with a pair of scores late in the period.
“Talent-wise, in our sectional ,we’re right there with anyone,” continued Kunkel. “But mentally and physically, I’m not so sure. You have to do your job on every play. If you don’t do your job on even one play, they’ll bust a big one.”
Bluffton’s struggles began right out of the gate when it fumbled away the opening kickoff.
And although Blackford did not score on that drive, the play set the tone for a sluggish Bluffton first half.
In fact, the Tigers needed two Blackford fumbles deep in its own territory to score two of its three first-half touchdowns.
The first was a fumbled snap that the Bluffton defense pounced on at the Blackford 19.
Three Anthony Cruz smashes from there put the Tigers on top, 7-0.
Cruz finished with 180 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries with all of those yards coming in the first three quarters of play.
Bluffton got its second score on a one-yard run by Khamel Moore that capped a 77-yard, eight-play drive.
The drive was highlighted by back-to-back Cruz runs of 37 and 21 yards that moved the ball from the Bluffton 25 to the Blackford 17.
And then the Tigers took advantage of another big Blackford turnover, recovering a fumble on the ensuing kickoff at the Bruin 29.
Six plays later, quarterback Braxton Betancourt’s keeper from 10 yards out gave the Tigers a 21-6 halftime lead.
But in between, Blackford was hanging in there.
After going nowhere offensively in the first quarter and then being pinned at their own 20 after a 60-yard Betancourt punt, the Bruins suddenly zipped 80 yards down the field in four plays.
They started the drive with a 17-yard run by Bryan Hernandez, went back five yards on a penalty, and then got consecutive runs of 35 yards by Nicholas Ely and 32 yards by Austin Smith to set up a one-yard smash by Hernandez.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Hernandez broke off a 62-yard gallop on the first play of the third quarter all the way to the Bluffton 3.
Two plays later, it was 21-14.
And it might not have been that but for those two Blackford fumbles that set up short fields for Bluffton.
Even though the Tigers allowed the Bruins to hang around, at the end of the day they were still the better team.
They immediately got down to business after that Bruin score with a 10-play, 54-yard drive for what amounted to the game-clinching touchdown.
Cruz carried the ball on all but one of those plays and hit the end zone with a three-yard burst midway through the third quarter.
Two more short fields accounted for Bluffton’s last two touchdowns.
The first came after a 15-yard punt gave the Tigers the ball at the Blackford 39.
Two plays was all the Tigers needed, covering the distance on a 12-yard run by Moore and a 27-yard pass from Betancourt to A.J. Streveler.
The second came after a bad snap from center on another attempted punt ended up with Bluffton taking over at the Bruin 19.
Betancourt’s four-yard scoring flip to Andrew Hunt on the first play of the fourth quarter wound up the scoring.
So it wasn’t pretty, but Bluffton survived.
And the Tigers, now 6-4 on the season, will travel to Tipton for second-round play. The Blue Devils posted a 21-20 win over Eastern Friday night.
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BLUFFTON 42, BLACKFORD 14
Bluffton 7 14 14 7 — 42
Blackford 0 6 8 0 — 14
First Quarter
BLU-Anthony Cruz 3 run (Yaruslav Serdiuk kick), 0:18.
Second Quarter
BLA-Bryan Hernandez 2 run (kick blocked), 8:14.
BLU-Khamel Moore 2 run (Serdiuk kick), 4:30.
BLU-Braxton Betancourt 10 run (Serdiuk kick), 2:48.
Third Quarter
BLA-Nicholas Ely fumble recovery in end zone (Ely pass from Donovan Soto), 10:16.
BLU-Cruz 3 run (Serdiuk kick), 5:23.
BLU-A.J. Streveler 27 pass from Betancourt (Serdiuk kick), 2:48.
Fourth Quarter
BLU-Andrew Hunt 4 run (Serdiuk kick), 11:54.
Team Statistics BLU BLA
First Downs 18 11
Rushes-Yards 41-285 43-215
Passing Yards 51 15
Passing (C-A-I) 4-11-0 2-10-0
Penalties-Yards 4-35 3-20
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 7-2
Punts-Average 1-60.0 3-12.0
Time of Possession 19:54 28:06
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Bluffton-Anthony Cruz 22-180, Khamel Moore 13-69, Fletcher 1-6, Team 1-(-1). Blackford-Bryan Hernandez 16-112, Austin Smith 8-47, Gage Dow 8-37, Nicholas Ely 1-35, Peyton James 1-8, Carson Smith 3-6, Donovan Soto 5-(-11), Grant Ridgway 1-(-19).
Passing: Bluffton-Braxton Betancourt 4-10-0 51, Hunter Wenger 0-1-0 0. Blackford-Donovan Soto 1-5-20 7, Carson Smith 1-5-0 8.
Receiving: Bluffton-A.J. Streveler 1-27, Andrew Hunt 3-24. Blackford-Bryan Hernandez 1-8, Austin Smith 1-7.
