BC Romps At McDaniel (Daily News-Record)

Daily News-Record - By Jeremy Cothran

WESTMINSTER, Md. – Jeff Highfill took the snap in the third quarter and glanced at his No. 1 receiver, Brandon Copeland. Covered. He checked out a few more options, didn’t see anything he liked, and took off like he was shot out of a cannon, outracing the entire McDaniel defense en route to a 44-yard touchdown.

It was that kind of day for the Bridgewater College football team, which piled up the offense, got the bounces and exorcised some demons Saturday in a 41-0 victory over the Green Terror at Scott S. Bair Stadium.

Gone were lingering memories of last year’s 36-35 loss to McDaniel at Jopson Field, a game Bridgewater led by 19 at halftime.

“There was still a lot of memory there,” BC coach Michael Clark said.

Saturday’s victory may prove to be costly, however. Senior tailback Winston Young left the game in the second quarter after sustaining a rib injury. It was unclear how much time he would miss, but even without Young, the Eagles were clicking on all cylinders Saturday.

“They kicked our butts,” McDaniel coach Tim Keating said, shaking his head.

BC outgained McDaniel 505-174 yards, and the defense shut out the Terror at Bair Stadium for the first time since 1987. It was a physical performance, as well. Seven McDaniel players were forced out of the game because of injury, including a helmet-popping, fumble-causing shot by freshman safety Aubrey Dicks on the opening kickoff in the third quarter that sent sophomore tailback Matt Buschman to the sideline with an apparent concussion.

Highfill was the catalyst of the Eagles’ offense, tossing two first-quarter touchdowns, running for another and directing a balanced attack that ran for 318 yards through a porous McDaniel defense. Junior tailback Phillip Carter gained 81 yards, 43 on a touchdown run, and Highfill ran for 105 yards, leaving Keating surprised by the quarterback’s scrambling ability.

“I had no idea,” Keating said. “He’s a really, really nice player. I knew he was a very good option quarterback, and they ran a little bit of option, but you could see him become a team leader out there.”

The Eagles’ offense caught a few breaks, too. Facing a fourth-and-9 on the opening drive, Highfill dropped back and zipped a bullet pass to Copeland (three receptions, 66 yards and a touchdown), who could not handle it. The ball tipped off his hands and landed directly on the stomach of sophomore wide-out Andy Ropp, who ran 25 yards to the Terror 10. Three plays later, Highfill flipped a pass to tight end Jeff Jones for a 5-yard score.

Keating thought he had the mobile quarterback in Saturday’s rivalry contest, but the Eagles’ defense put the shackles on senior Brad Baer, limiting the Westminster native to 7-for-17 passing for just 73 yards. Senior linebacker Brandon Borst and senior defensive end Antonio Burt were in Baer’s face all afternoon.

“I thought it was going to be a tough game,” Baer said, “but nothing like this.”

Baer gashed the Eagles’ defense for a pair of big gains on scrambles during McDaniel’s opening drive, but BC adjusted quickly and Baer was unable to create anything out of the passing game. He was constantly harassed, pressured and hurried, which forced him to throw on the run and over the heads of receivers.

“We were all really fired up,” senior linebacker Craig Smith said. “We didn’t really make any adjustments to [Baer]. We just buckled down and everything started coming to us.”

Fired up may be putting it lightly. Just before the opening kickoff, Borst stormed onto the sideline and slammed a giant sledgehammer into the turf – a BC award for hard work similar to Virginia Tech’s lunch pail – and waved his arms toward the Bridgewater fans.

“Oh, he’s a madman,” senior linebacker Venancio Biela said. “But he really did deserve that award. He put the hammer down.”

One area of concern for BC was its inability to take advantage of its red-zone possessions. Even though the Eagles scored five touchdowns, it was the team’s 22- and 19-yard field goals that left Clark shaking his head.

“We don’t need to be kicking field goals inside the 10-yard line,” Clark said.