By ANDREW FEEBACK
SPIECHERVILLE — It may have been the season opener Friday night, but the Bluffton Tigers looked like a team that already had several games under its belt.
The Tigers wasted no time grabbing an early lead, and from there, they just kept building it on their way to a 47-6 win over the host Northfield Norsemen.
“I was really happy with our energy level,” coach Brent Kunkel said. “One of the challenges we always talk about with this first game, you come out, and you’re really hyped up, and then the bottom kind of falls out once you’ve dumped that adrenaline. I thought our kids did a really good job of maintaining that energy throughout the entire first half.”
It didn’t look like the Tigers would have much success running the ball early, but quarterback Braxton Betancourt threw a 41-yard pass to Andrew Hunt, then a 16-yard screen to Tucker Jenkins to get Bluffton on the board just three minutes in.
Jenkins was pretty active early on, catching a touchdown pass, running for another, scoring a two-point conversion, and sacking Northfield quarterback Brayden Rice, all in the first quarter.
Bluffton has a lot of seniors on its roster but saw some younger players step in and contribute as well.
Sophomore Griffin Morgan blocked a punt, and the Tiger went up 14-0 just six plays later.
Cooper Craig, a freshman, scored his first of three touchdowns early in the second quarter to make it 21-0.
Craig got his second score just two minutes later on a 60-yard burst.
Chris Kramer recovered a fumble, and four plays later, Ben Ramseyer was in the end zone for a 35-0 spread.
Kunkel liked how his team kept attacking.
“It would have been easy to take a step back, but we had some killer instinct there to close the half out,” he said. “I’m really happy with that.”
Freshman Axton Beste took over at quarterback in the second half, diving for the pylon on a two-yard run to make it 41-0.
With the running clock in effect for the whole second half, Bluffton ran just one play in the fourth quarter: a 58-yard burst from Craig for his third score of the night.
Northfield’s only points came on a four-yard run by Rice.
As crisp as the Tigers looked in this one, previous seasons suggest the first game isn’t a very good indicator of what’s to come. Two years ago, the Tigers defeated the Norsemen but went on to finish 4-6. Last year, the Norsemen came to Bluffton and shut them out, but the Tigers went on to win eight games and the sectional.
“I don’t think we’re ready to compete for a conference or sectional title after tonight,” Kunkel said. “We’ve got a lot of things we need to clean up. We had some missed blocks, and we need to clean up some things on the inside with our offensive line. There are always areas to improve, but right now, it’s hard to complain about 47-6. We obviously want to keep getting better, and we’ll get working on it tomorrow.”
Bluffton will host Manchester Friday night at 7 p.m.
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BLUFFTON 47, NORTHFIELD 6
At Northfield
Score By Quarters
Bluffton 14 21 6 6 – 47
Northfield 0 0 0 6 – 6
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
B—Tucker Jenkins 16 pass from Braxton Betancourt (kick blocked), 9:08.
B—Jenkins 4 run (Jenkins run), 2:43.
Second Quarter
B—Cooper Craig 1 run (Yaroslav Serdiuk kick), 10:50.
B—Craig 60 run (Serdiuk kick), 8:13.
B—Ben Ramseyer 24 run (Serdiuk kick), 4:21.
Third Quarter
B—Axton Beste 2 run (kick blocked), 1:34.
Fourth Quarter
N—Turner Stephens 4 run (kick failed), 5:33.
B—Craig 58 run (kick failed), 3:57.
Team Statistics
BLU NOR
First Downs 13 6
Rushes-Yards 31-302 32-90
Yards Passing 66 15
Passing (Comp-Att-Int) 4-5-0 1-4-0
Penalties-Yards 4-35 4-20
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1
Punts-Average 0-0 5-21
Time of Possession 21:39 26:21
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Bluffton, Cooper Craig 7-140, Ben Ramseyer 11-92, Tucker Jenkins 3-31, Axton Beste 3-20, Kaden Simpson 2-1, Andrew Hunt 2-(minus 3), AJ Streveler 1-6, Braxton Betancourt 2-15. Northfield, Turner Stephens 12-41, Kody Stambaugh 4-(minus 2), Brayden Rice 7-14, CJ Long 3-22, Blake Aderman 2-5, Maddux Daniels 1-4, Jake Perney 1-1, Corbin Goshert 1-0.
Passing: Bluffton, Betancourt 3-4-0-66, Beste 1-1-0-0. Northfield, Rice 1-4-0-15.
Receiving: Bluffton, Andrew Hunt 1-41, Jenkins 1-16, Streveler 1-9, Trey Bustos 1-0. Northfield, Long 1-15.
