By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – The Curse of the Cougars continues.
For a multitude of reasons, or a million bad excuses, Bedford North Lawrence has been unable to reverse the spell of doom that haunts the program when facing Bloomington North. The heavy hex has been unbreakable for two decades. And this devastating loss might be the worst of all.
Despite a three-score lead with 18 minutes left, despite a remarkable school-record rushing performance by a back running like a possessed Tasmanian devil, the Stars could not end the jinx. And when considering all the mistakes that led to their demise, perhaps they didn’t deserve this one. North, with a freshman quarterback playing far beyond his years and experience, recorded a win for the ages, while BNL will be plagued by it for a long time.
Trailing 34-14 late in the third quarter, the Cougars clawed back for a shocking 41-40 victory on Friday night as new head coach Andy Harding posted his first win at his alma mater. That nearly choked him to tears. Rookie quarterback Fisher Pugh fired four touchdown passes, including the game winner on fourth down with 2:56 remaining, as North stopped BNL for the eighth straight time. And that’s 18 of the last 19 in the series.
What a shame that Malakai Goodman’s record romp will be overshadowed by a demoralizing defeat. Goodman exploded for 289 yards and five touchdowns, topping the mark of Cal Gates (270 yards at New Albany in 2022). He was unstoppable, but so was North’s offense. The Cougars converted four fourth downs, including the final score.
Pugh was the difference maker. After struggling in his debut last week, including two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns by Bloomington South, he was suddenly – in one week’s time – Tom Brady in maroon, throwing for 324 yards.
“Kudos to my freshman quarterback,” Harding said. “Last week he stumbled in some places. This week he’s making those throws. I was so proud of him. He stepped up and made some big-time throws. That’s a huge adjustment he made.“
Where to start? From the North standpoint, it’s the fourth quarter. The Cougars scored three times in that span, capping a sensational comeback. They trailed 34-21 when the period started, but they grabbed momentum with both fists and refused to surrender it.
Drive One: After stopping BNL at the goal line, turning away five plays from inside the five, North marched 98 yards in only eight plays. Pugh hit Blake Davis for 28 yards, then executed a perfect screen pass for a 38-yard touchdown to Carter Matthew.
Drive Two: After picking off Cutler Chastain’s pass at midfield, North scored on the next play, with Brayden Johnson blasting 35 yards to force a 34-34 deadlock with 8:38 left.
Drive Three: After Goodman single handedly powered the Stars back in front with two beautiful, bruising runs that covered 65 yards for a go-ahead score (minus a blocked extra point that would prove crucial) in only 19 seconds, North bounced back yet again. Pugh dodged a turnover when a deflected pass was picked off, but the Stars were flagged for pass interference. Four plays later, on fourth down from the 17, Pugh hit Matthew in the seam of the secondary, and he danced into the end zone untouched. Andres Firactive’s extra point was pure for a one-point lead – North’s first advantage of the game.
And it was enough when BNL’s final drive ended with a third interception.
“It’s never good to lose like that,” BNL coach Brayden Tidd said. “A lot of things went against us, but that’s football. That’s life. Stuff happens that you don’t like, but you move on.
“It will sting. Losing in this fashion, it should.”
Until that point, BNL was dominant. The Stars scored twice early, with Brody Horton blasting 28 yards on the first snap after Cam Gates returned the kickoff deep into enemy territory. On the next series, Goodman exploded for a 29-yard touchdown, and BNL’s defense made a fourth-down stop at the goal line to turn North away. When Chastain connected with Jaden Gilbert for a 68-yard bomb, the Stars were on the verge of a quick blowout.
But that didn’t happen. BNL’s drive was thwarted, and North came back with Pugh’s 66-yard touchdown strike to Rashon English. The Stars made it 20-7 with Goodman’s 65-yard romp (that was two touches and two TDs), but North converted its first interception into a late score by Johnson for a 20-14 difference at the half.
The Stars scored twice quickly in the third quarter. Following a bad punt snap by North, BNL converted the short field with Goodman’s third touchdown. The next series was all Goodman. Three carries of 21, 30 and 10 yards for a score and the ill-fated 34-14 lead.
“That joker, he’s good,” Harding said with a huge dose of respect. “He ran the ball so hard.”
“That’s our dude,” Tidd said. “We knew he would be starting the game at receiver, but we told him we hoped he had his backpack on. When you have a kid that talented, you have to use him everywhere.”
North totaled 445 yards, with English catching four passes for 131 yards and Nate Walker snagging seven for 106. Pugh had five completions of 20-plus yards. All that after scoring only six points in the season opener.
“That’s the resilience of these kids,” Harding said. ”They stepped up. In the second half, we finally started playing some North football. Our defense stepped up and made plays when they had to. They were ready to play.“
And what a way to win your first game as a head coach. “It means a lot, it really does,” Harding said. “This program means so much to me. Doing this at our school, absolutely love it.”
Not only did BNL suffer on the scoreboard, the Stars absorbed more bad injury news. Parker Kern will undergo surgery to insert screws to fix a broken bone in his foot, and Horton went down with a knee injury.
”Turnovers didn’t help, and we have guys dropping like flies,” Tidd said.
Against those headwinds, BNL must bounce back next week for its first road test, a trip to Jeffersonville for the Hoosier Hills Conference opener. The Red Devils clipped Seymour 20-14 for their first win.
Bloom. North 0 14 7 20 – 41
Bedford NL 13 7 14 6 – 40
First quarter
BNL – Brody Horton, 28 run (Aiden Dralle kick), 11:41; BNL – Malakai Goodman, 29 run (kick failed), 4:02
Second quarter
BN – Rashon English, 66 pass from Fisher Pugh (Andres Firactive kick), 3:57; BNL – Goodman, 65 run (Dralle kick), 2:52; BN – Brayden Johnson, 4 run (Firactive kick), 0:39
Third quarter
BNL – Goodman, 1 run (Dralle kick), 8:12; BNL – Goodman, 10 run (Dralle kick), 6:27; BN – Nate Walker, 45 pass from Pugh (Firactive kick), 4:46
Fourth quarter
BN – Carter Matthew, 38 pass from Pugh (Firactive kick), 10:13; BN – Johnson, 35 run (kick failed), 8:38; BNL – Goodman, 35 run (kick failed), 8:19; BN – Matthew, 17 pass from Pugh (Firactive kick), 2:56
Team statistics
North – First downs 17 (9 by run, 8 by pass); Rushing 38-121; Passing 17-30-0-324; Total yards 445; Fumbles 2 (lost 0); Penalties 14-90
BNL – First downs 14 (10 by run, 4 by pass); Rushing 34-374; Passing 6-14-3-109; Total yards 483; Fumbles 0; Penalties 9-75
Individual statistics
Rushing – (North) Pugh 9-(-19), Matthew 9-54, Johnson 17-95, Roach 1-3, Davis 1-8, Firactive 1-(-20); (BNL) Chastain 4-22, Horton 9-63, Goodman 21-289
Passing – (North) Pugh 17-30-0-324; (BNL) Chastain 6-14-3-109
Receiving – (North) Walker 7-106, Davis 2-34, Matthew 3-41, Clendening 1-12, English 4-131; (BNL) Gilbert 6-109
