BELLBROOK — Bellbrook rode stiff defense and up-tempo offense to a 26-10 senior night win over Monroe, Friday. The Golden Eagles’ defense came up with timely stops throughout the evening and limited Monroe to 194 yards of offense, 149 of which came on two big plays.
“We’re just kinda hitting our stride, kids are playing well doing a lot of good things,” Bellbrook head coach Kevin Basinger said. “Couldn’t be prouder of our seniors to finish up at home that way. That was good for them.
“We’ve played really pretty good defense all year. We’ve just given up the big play. … That’s been our nemesis all year, that big play.”
The Golden Eagles (4-5, 3-3 SWBL Southwestern) came out and set the tone for the game from the opening kickoff, which they returned for 76 yards deep into Hornets (5-4, 4-2 SWBL Southwestern) territory. Six quick plays later Bellbrook quarterback David Vine was in the endzone off a one-yard sneak.
Bellbrook held Monroe to a three and out on the next possession and appeared to be in business to score again, marching all the down to the Hornets’ 2 yard line. But two consecutive holding penalties and a sack forced the home team to punt.
Backed up in the shadow of their own goalposts, the visitors’ next three plays went as such: 1-yard run, 1-yard run, 94-yard touchdown pass. Despite all that momentum Bellbrook looked to be gaining, the contest was all even at 7, thanks to good blocking by Monroe.
Neither team was able to move the ball effectively after that until a 25-yard catch by Bellbrook’s Nathan Cordonnier jump-started his team’s offense towards the end of the first half. On the next play, Connor Oldham bounded to the endzone on a 12-yard run to give the home team the 13-7 lead before half. Oldham would finish the night with 115 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
Monroe appeared poised to take the lead when its first play from scrimmage in the second half was a 55-yard Curtis run to the Bellbrook 10 yard line, but the visitors were forced to settle for a 42-yard field goal to draw within three points. That was as close as the Hornets would get the rest of the night.
Bellbrook responded on its next drive by marching right back down the field and scoring on another Oldham run to push the score to 20-10. Two botched punts by the visitors would help the Golden Eagles further and Bellbrook would add some insurance with another touchdown on an endzone fade toss to Nathan Cordonnier midway through the fourth quarter.
“We didn’t come to play,” Monroe head coach Bill Leach said following the game. “Our defense has been really strong all year, and we just didn’t come to play for whatever reason. It’s a mystery to me right now.”
Bellbrook wraps up the season on the road at Oakwood (5-4). Monroe travels to Preble Shawnee (3-6).
Score By Quarters
Bellbrook 7 6 7 7 – 26
Monroe 7 0 3 0 – 10
Scoring Plays
B – David Vine 1 run, Brady Tincher kick
M – Connor Curtis 94 pass from Carson Hillebrand, Nick Amaya kick
B – Connor Oldham 12 run, Tincher kick failed
M – Amaya 42-yard FG
B – Oldham 33 run, Tincher kick
B – Nathan Cordonnier 10 pass from Vine, Tincher kick failed
