MEDINA: It wasn’t the prettiest of football games Friday night at Highland’s North Gateway Tire Field, but for the Copley Indians it was enough to earn a 33-16 Suburban League American Conference victory.
It was a sluggish start for both teams, with each team committing penalties, turnovers and establishing no rhythm in the first quarter.
But Copley’s defense came up with the game’s first big play when Jaylon Doss intercepted a pass from Highland quarterback Matthew Earnest and returned it 30 yards for the first touchdown with a little over six minutes left in the half.
It was the Indians’ defense that made the difference throughout the night and helping out the offense.
“The game wasn’t going as we had it planned but our defense stepped up huge tonight when our offense was sputtering,” Copley coach Scott Chouinard said.
The Indians (6-1, 4-0) have won four in a row since falling to Lake in the final seconds in Week 3.
“We will enjoy this win and when we come in to work on Saturday the season becomes 1-0 and that’s our approach. We need to be 1-0 every day and 1-0 from week-to-week,” Chouinard said.
Copley will host Aurora next week, and the winner of that game will more than likely come away with the league title.
Indians running back Weston Bridges, who also struggled early in the game to find any running room, finished strong with 164 yards on 26 carries and a touchdown. He had just six yards on his first seven carries as the Hornets were able to close the gaps in a hurry on Bridges.
But for Bridges, a Michigan State recruit, it only takes one open gap for the speedy senior to take it all the way and that’s what he did on his eighth carry of the night, going 59 yards for a touchdown and making it 16-3 before halftime.
Bridges, not only went over 1,000 yards for the season, now with 1,092 — he also went over 3,000 yards for his career.
Copley quarterback Austin Brenner also went over 100 yards rushing, with 101 yards on 13 carries, including a 15-yard touchdown run late in the fourth to put the Indians ahead 26-10.
Highland (4-3, 1-2) did make it a one score game after Mitchell Hutchings recovered a Chris Burnside fumble in the end zone to make it 16-10 early in the fourth quarter before Copley pulled away. Burnside finished with 19 carries for 70 yards.
The Indians put the game away when linebacker Adam Allen returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown to make it 33-10 with less then three minutes left in the game.
“I think the No. 1 thing was the guys believed in each other and stuck together,” Chouinard said.