By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
MARTINSVILLE – With the echoes of history stirring from a four-decade slumber, awakening to see what the cannon thunder and annoying flickering lights were all about, Bedford North Lawrence was making its own noise. Hammering the car horn like a road-raged driver, the Stars could see the finish line. They just couldn’t get there.
Ran out of gas on the last lap, a pit stop away from victory in the season opener.
Trailing by two scores in the fourth quarter, Martinsville rallied for a dramatic 23-19 victory on Friday night. BNL was on the verge of a major triumph, just a couple of turns away from the first road win in the series since 1979. Then sputter, putter, the tank went dry. Remember the worn-out saying that close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades? The Artesians had a workhorse that left hoof prints all over the turf and wore the Stars into submission.
Senior running back Brayden Shrake rumbled for 212 yards on 38 carries, and he scored the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter as Martinsville escaped with a hold-your-breath win. The Artesians battled back from a 19-9 deficit with the final two scores, then held off BNL’s final drive into threatening position while extending their series dominance to a 22-3 count.
The brutal ending overshadowed a brilliant BNL beginning. The Stars forced two first-half turnovers and scored the first two touchdowns, and the ground at Siderewicz shook a little. Then Shrake started to rumble, getting stronger as the clock ticked away. He had 22 carries during the final 18 minutes, as he bore the weight of an entire team on his shoulders.
“Brayden was unreal,” Martinsville coach Brian Dugger said. “We’re going to hang our hat on him. He wants the ball, and we’re going to give it to him.”
No secret, that. No stopping it, either. Martinsville’s final two drives were mostly his tough handiwork, especially the one that covered 99 yards in 14 plays and 5:07 on the clock. The Stars knew what was coming.
“We started to tackle him up high,” BNL coach Derrick Barker said. “Once we got tired, we started playing too high. At the end our fundamentals dropped off.
“We were the ones that gassed out a little sooner than they did. Both teams were throwing haymakers, getting knocked down and getting back up. At the end of the day, they made a few more plays than we did. They just outlasted us.”
BNL landed the first punches. Ruel Steele’s interception of the first Martinsville pass set up the Stars at the 16, and Memphis Louden cashed that in for the first score, plowing over from a yard out. His second score was more spectacular. He found Ryker Hughes behind the defense for a 92-yard touchdown strike with 1:50 left in the first half.
The Artesians rebounded from that gut shot with an immediate response. After Hunter Stroud returned the kickoff to midfield, new quarterback A.J. Reynolds found his rhythm, connecting on four straight passes. But BNL refused to yield ground inside the 10, and Martinsville was forced to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Charlie Rawlins with 1.8 seconds left.
“We didn’t play very well in the first half,” Dugger said. “But I’m proud of these guys. Our motto this week was E plus R equals O. Event plays reaction equals outcome. The first half we didn’t play very well, and we had to react a certain way. Our kids did.”
Martinsville’s second drive of the second half finally resulted in its intended outcome, a touchdown on the end of a 65-yard, 16-play march. A questionable pass interference penalty on fourth down kept that drive alive, and Shrake powered home from two yards as the Artesians roared within 13-9.
Two plays later, BNL regained momentum. Cal Gates crashed over the left side, won a footrace to the sideline and slipped off a tackler en route to a 59-yard touchdown. BNL was only 13 1/2 minutes away from a monumental moment. But on the first play of the fourth quarter, Reynolds hit Jace LaFary with a 37-yard touchdown. And the next drive was the Shrake Show, capped by his touchdown with 3:08 remaining.
“That was more about who we are,” Dugger said. “We condition the crap out of these guys, and I thought we were the more conditioned team. It showed in those final drives. That’s a really good football team, but they kind of ran out of gas at the end.”
BNL’s last chance showed promise. Louden scrambled for 19 yards, then hit Gates for 10 more as the Stars rushed to the 36-yard line. But the heroics ended there with a dropped pass, a holding penalty that erased a touchdown pass, and a final sack by Martinsville’s Ty Hornberger and Levi Reuter as Louden slipped while attempting to look downfield on fourth down.
“It sucks to lose, but that’s what high school football is all about,” Barker said. “You can’t knock the effort. That’s how close we were. Our guys were gutting it out. You can’t ask for a much better start. We just couldn’t make the red zone stop at the end.
“It just didn’t go our way.”
Louden finished with 172 passing yards while Gates totaled 85 on the ground. Trace Rynders had a first-half interception. BNL also recorded four sacks (with Steele and Brady Byers doing damage) and Maddox Ray knocked down two passes.
Reynolds was 17 of 26 for 189 yards with the two picks. The telling statistic was Martinsville’s 23 first downs and 76 total plays. BNL’s defense was too exposed on the field.
The Stars will look to rebound next week at Bloomington North.
Bedford NL 0 13 6 0 – 19
Martinsville 0 3 6 14 – 23
Second quarter
BNL – Memphis Louden, 1 run (Ryker Hughes kick) 10:17; BNL – Hughes, 92 pass from Louden (kick failed), 1:50; M – Charlie Rawlins, 24 field goal, 0:01
Third quarter
M – Brayden Shrake, 2 run (kick failed) 2:13; BNL – Cal Gates, 59 run (run failed) 1:35
Fourth quarter
M – Jace LaFary, 37 pass from A.J. Reynolds (Rawlins kick), 11:53; M – Shrake, 2 run (Rawlins kick); 3:08
Team statistics
BNL – First downs 8 (5 by run, 3 by pass); Rushing 31-149; Passing 5-12-0-172; Total yards 321; Fumbles 1 (lost 0); Penalties 8-52
M – First downs 23 (14 by run, 8 by pass, 1 by penalty); Rushing 49-212; Passing 17-27-2-189; Total yards 401: Fumbles 2 (lost 0); Penalties 5-30
Individual statistics
Rushing – (BNL) Louden 15-49, Brosamle 1-0, Childs 4-15, Gates 11-85; (M) Reynolds 7-(-24), Shrake 38-212, Stroud 4-24
Passing – (BNL) Louden 5-12-0-172; (M) Reynolds 17-26-2-189, Dodson 0-1-0-0
Receiving – (BNL) Pedersen 1-32, Hughes 1-92, Childs 1-33, Short 1-5, Gates 1-10; (M) Stroud 4-35, LaFary 5-86, Willison 4-28, Shrake 1-0, Dodson 2-39, Jones 1-0
