BRADFORD MOVES ON WITH VICTORY

PREVIEW STORY

A week after winning its first-ever District 9 Class AAA championship, the Owls posted their first-ever state playoff win with a 35-7 victory over Central Cambria Friday night in the opening round of the PIAA playoffs at E.J. Mansell Stadium.

Bradford (9-2), winners of nine straight, did so by running its patented wing-T offense to near perfection. The Owls rushed for 245 yards on 55 carries and completed the only two passes they threw for another 72 yards.

They also got five scores from five different players. Elloitt George led Bradford with 91 yards on 14 carries and Jason Casey added 76 yards on 14 carries.

The Owls' defense was just about as impressive as it limited Central Cambria (7-5), the District 6 champs, to 143 total yards. Running back Mike Persio got 100 of that himself on 13 carries.

What hurt the Red Devils the most was two early mistakes that the Owls capitalized on.

Early in the second quarter, Bradford took advantage of an 11-yard punt by Central Cambria's Robert Williams that gave the Owls good field position at the Red Devils' 38-yard line. Three plays later, George opened the scoring with an 18-yard run.

On the first play of Central Cambria's ensuing possession, Scott Ball fumbled and Jeff Puglio recovered for the Owls at the Red Devils' 21. Six plays later, Bradford quarterback Kevin Rose scored on a 1-yard run to make it 14-0.

The score stood that way until late in the third quarter when Jason Casey busted off a 50-yard touchdown run to put the Owls up 21-0. Bradford made it 28-0 early in the fourth on an 8-yard run by Jim Nuzzo.

Central Camrbia, which had been in Bradford territory only once through three quarters, finally got back there. Midway through the fourth, quarterback Joe Kemock hooked up with Eric Gerber for a 17-yard TD pass to make it 28-7.

The Owls put the icing on the cake by putting together a 14-play, 54-yard drive that ended with backup quarterback Josh Cobb scoring on a 2-yard run with 46 seconds remaining in the game.

With the win, Bradford moves on to the quarterfinal round where it will meet Saturday's Wilmington-Perry winner either Friday or Saturday night at a District 9 site which will likely be DuBois once again.