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ORION — On the track at Orion High School, members of the St. Bede football team posed for photos with each other and their coaches.
The Bruins hugged, talked and laughed and even had a few tears.
St. Bede was celebrating and reminiscing about a memorable season.
A year after going 1-8, the Bruins capped the COVID-19 shortened spring season with a 27-21 victory over Orion on Saturday.
“When we started practice, (the goal) was make it through day one then make it through day two because we could get shutdown at any time,” St. Bede coach Jim Eustice said. “We made it. We did it. We went 5-1 and we only lost to the defending 2A state champion. Not a bad season.
“Today was a great team win.”
The Bruins led 17-13 at halftime then went three-and-out on their opening drive of the second half.
Orion then marched 72 yards on 10 plays, capping the drive with a 43-yard touchdown run by Cole Kratzberg with 5:23 left in the third quarter to give the Chargers a 21-17 lead.
The Bruins went three-and-out again, but the St. Bede defense stepped up.
On Orion’s first play, quarterback Kaden Meguffy fumbled the snap, and Ethan Fleming pounced on it.
Four plays later, Tyreke Fortney took a jet sweep around the left end 24 yards for a touchdown to put the Bruins up 24-21 with 46.1 seconds left in the third.
The Bruins forced another three-and-out then drove 47 yards down to the Orion 13, setting up Nick Pearse for a 30-yard field goal, his second of the game that gave the Bruins a 27-21 lead.
“It was a shaky first half, but we always come out and play very strong in the second half,” Fleming said. “The seniors knew it was our last time out. We put it all on the field today.
“We came together, went out there and handled business.”
The defense did the rest.
Anton Cain broke up a pass on fourth down from the Bruin 25, and the Chargers’ final drive also ended on an incomplete pass.
“We made some adjustments at halftime,” Eustice said. “We tried to get to the edge a little bit, which we did. We just did enough to win and our defense played outstanding in the second half. It was great having (Pearse) in his final game after kicking for us for four years make two field goals, which ended up being the difference.”
The Bruins grabbed momentum early.
On its second drive, Braden Damerell faked a handoff to Fortney on a jet sweep, the ran up the middle for a 59-yard touchdown.
The Bruins went up 10-0 on their next drive when Pearse booted a 24-yard field goal with 11:55 left in the half.
After the teams traded punts, Orion made a change at quarterback and needed just two plays to score when QB Jared Mohr ran for a 20-yard TD.
The Chargers had another quick strike when Mohr hit Coby Schultz for a 33-yard touchdown on a screen pass to give Orion a 13-10 lead with 1:59 left in the first half.
St. Bede responded with a 60-yard TD pass from Damerell to Griffen Heuser with a minute left for a 17-13 halftime lead.
“It was great going from 1-8 one season to going 5-1,” Fleming said. “(The seniors) are all so close. It’s the best feeling ever.”
The Bruins graduate 13 seniors but hope to build on this spring’s success in the fall.
“We have 13 seniors, but we have good numbers in the sophomore and junior classes,” Eustice said. “Hopefully, we can get a couple more kids out as sophomores. Next season is only 90 days away. We’ll get going in July. We have a good core back. Losing Braden is going to be tough. We’re going to have to do a lot of work at quarterback this summer, but we have quite a few starters back on both sides of the ball.
“But we’ll enjoy this now.”
Damerell finished with 105 rushing yards and a TD while throwing for 89 yards and a score. Heuser caught two passes for 65 yards and a touchdown and Fortney ran for 47 yards and a TD.