SCARBOROUGH — Bonny Eagle High’s defense was bending but it was Scarborough’s offense that broke down Friday.
The Scots improved to 2-0 with a 21-7 road win in large part because they were able to thwart three fourth-quarter Scarborough possessions inside the Bonny Eagle 10.
The win came at a cost. Powerful running back and linebacker Nick Thorne injured his elbow and had to be taken from the field, and several other Scots noticeably were dinged up with problems that ranged from cramps to sore thumbs to tender ankles.
“I really liked how our kids competed in the second half,” Bonny Eagle Coach Kevin Cooper said. “Our defense, when their backs were to the wall, was just phenomenal.”
The defense also provided the two-touchdown cushion when Cam Thebarge intercepted Scarborough quarterback Zoltan Panyi’s underthrown pass over the middle and returned it 21 yards for a score with 6:05 left in the third quarter.
“I was in deep coverage, saw the ball, went up for it and caught it, and had good blocking after I caught it,” Thebarge said.
But with Scarborough’s defense allowing zero second-half points, the Red Storm (1-1) kept creating opportunities.
Panyi repeatedly got to the edge on designed runs or pure scrambles and gashed the Scots for big gains (nine runs of more than 10 yards, 134 total rushing yards).
It appeared Panyi had cut the margin to 21-13 ever so briefly when he worked across the end line on fourth-and-1 from the 2, only to have the play called back on a holding penalty. The drive stalled with an incompletion with 8:15 to play.
With 4:42 remaining, Scarborough was back on the goal line, facing a fourth down at the 1. Panyi bobbled a shotgun snap and was flattened by Parker Gammon of Bonny Eagle.
The Scots ran nearly four minutes of time behind the workhorse running of quarterback Cam Day (26 carries, 92 yards) and Alex Sprague (22-157, 1 TD).
One more time Scarborough got inside the 10, going 66 yards on three plays only to have Connor Sirois step in front of a Panyi pass at the goal line. It was Bonny Eagle’s third interception. Panyi completed 7 of 21 passes for 98 yards.
“Our defense stepped up big and we just made big plays,” Thebarge said. “We had to put some backups in and they were ready to play.”
Scarborough Coach Lance Johnson said his team’s loss came down to “just a bunch of plays where we’re not executing. We’ve got to start getting better on offense. For the second week in a row our defense pitched a shutout in the second half. We just are not executing at all on offense.”
Bonny Eagle opened the scoring late in the first quarter when Day connected with Kardell Menard for a 17-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-8.
Sprague made it 14-0 with a 7-yard touchdown run with 3:40 left in the half. Sprague had set up the score with his own 43-yard sprint after escaping multiple Scarborough defenders in the backfield.
Scarborough responded with Cody Dudley’s untouched 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.