By ANDREW
FEEBACK
The Bluffton Tigers ended the regular season with a solid performance, defeating the visiting Lakeland Lakers 28-7 Friday night.
Two solid drives to begin the game gave the Tigers an early cushion which they didn’t relinquish.
“It was good to come out, first two series, and keep the ball on the ground the whole length of the field,” coach Brent Kunkel said. “We weren’t able to run the ball real well in the second half against Heritage or last week against Adams Central, so that was a point of emphasis for us this week, to establish the run.”
The Tigers improved to 5-4, while the Lakers fell to 3-6.
Bluffton went 80 yards in seven plays for its first touchdown, with Anthony Cruz carrying on six of those plays and accounting for 75 yards.
The Tigers’ second drive was even more impressive: 93 yards in 17 plays, lasting more than seven minutes.
Cruz scored both touchdowns, giving Bluffton a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.
There were opportunities to extend the lead later in the first half, but Bluffton’s next two possessions ended with a turnover on downs.
The Tigers were a bit sloppy at times in the second half, committing five penalties and struggling to run the ball as they did early in the game.
But they came up with a big stop to end the third quarter when they stuffed Khamron Malaivanh for no gain on a fourth and two from the eight-yard-line.
Facing third and eight from the 22, Tucker Jenkins hauled in a pass from Braxton Betancourt for a 78-yard touchdown to push the lead up to 21-0.
Lakeland’s Keyan Arroyo returned the kickoff 82 yards for the Lakers’ only points of the night.
The Tigers only had the ball for about a minute before being forced to punt, and momentum suddenly seemed to be finding its way toward the visitors’ sideline.
But two plays later, Hutch Craighead intercepted a pass at midfield with 6:13 to go.
On fourth and 13 from the Tiger 47, Betancourt took the snap to punt, waited, saw an opening to his left, and took it.
Thirty-seven yards later, he had a first down, and the Tigers had the breathing room they needed.
It was a spur of the moment decision that worked in Bluffton’s favor.
“I gave him a hard time about that,” Kunkel said with a laugh. “We want Braxton to be an athlete, and that’s why he is where he’s at. He makes some frustrating plays when he’s punting the ball, and he makes plays like that. We want to put all of our kids in position to make plays and be football players. Sometimes you roll the dice, and it comes out good. Sometimes it doesn’t come out good. Credit to him for making a great play. You didn’t want to give Lakeland the ball back with any kind of momentum after we gave up that kickoff return.”
Betancourt threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Brody Lewis with a minute left to finish the scoring.
“I thought our defense played phenomenal again tonight,” Kunkel added. Lakeland had just 139 total yards, only 49 of which were on the ground on 27 rush attempts.
The Tigers will carry a winning record into postseason play, something that may have seemed unlikely after the way the first game went.
“It’s a credit to our kids,” Kunkel said. “They responded after the Northfield week and played some really great football in the middle of the season. Obviously very happy to be 5-4 at this point, but everyone is 0-0 starting next week.”
Bluffton will travel to Blackford for its sectional opener next week. It will be the first time the schools have met on the football field since 1972.
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BLUFFTON 28, LAKELAND 7
At Bluffton
Score By Quarters
Lakeland 0 0 0 7 – 7
Bluffton 7 7 0 14 – 28
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
B—Anthony Cruz 47 run (Yaroslav Serdiuk kick), 9:00.
Second Quarter
B—Cruz 12 run (Serdiuk kick), 10:32.
Third Quarter
No scoring
Fourth Quarter
B—Tucker Jenkins 78 pass from Braxton Betancourt (Serdiuk kick), 9:15.
L—Keyan Arroyo 82 kickoff return (Carson Mickem kick), 9:01.
B—Brody Lewis 9 pass from Betancourt (Serdiuk kick), 1:01.
Team Statistics
LAK BLU
First Downs 9 15
Rushes-Yards 27-49 44-237
Yards Passing 90 155
Passing (C-A-I) 11-21-1 9-19-0
Penalties-Yards 2-10 8-50
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 0-0
Punts-Average 2-63 3-39
Time of Possession 18:19 29:41
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Lakeland, Carson Mickem 5-28, Khamron Malaivanh 15-33, Brayden Holbrook 4-(minus 17), Owen Troyer 1-(minus 9), Keyan Arroyo 2-14. Bluffton, Anthony Cruz 28-159, Khamel Moore 7-33, Braxton Betancourt 7-44, Hunter Wenger 1-3, AJ Streveler 1-(minus 2).
Passing: Lakeland, Holbrook 9-17-0-81, Jayden Marshall 2-4-1-9. Bluffton, Betancourt 9-19-0-155.
Receiving: Lakeland, Blake Alleshouse 3-10, Mickem 3-18, Arroyo 2-12, Levi Cook 1-12, Malaivanh 2-38. Bluffton, Jenkins 1-78, Streveler 2-16, Wenger 1-3, Andrew Hunt 1-7, Brody Lewis 4-51.
