By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – When designing defenses against the run, coordinators rarely account for the guy who has the football in his hands every play. Quarterbacks usually take off during emergency, save-their-own-life situations. They are built to chuck it, not ground chuck it. They can get turned into hamburger.
Cutler Chastain is not a typical quarterback. Sure, he’s got the cannon left arm, that’s why he’s destined to pitch (baseball) at Michigan. But it was his two feet, and one brilliant pass to make a gutsy gamble pay off, that powered Bedford North Lawrence to a super-sweet victory.
With his best Tim Tebow or Steve Young (a former two-time MVP in the NFL, for those who flunked football history) imitation, Chastain scrambled and dashed, gashing Martinsville for two touchdowns as BNL unveiled a punishing running game to beat down the Class 4A No.16 Artesians in the season opener for the second consecutive season.
Chastain blasted for 119 rushing yards, Brody Horton added 100 yards and two scores, and BNL turned 180 degrees in one year, transforming from video-game passing to brutal, old-school running for a 33-27 triumph on Friday night. The Stars earned some revenge for last season’s sectional final loss at Martinsville, and they recorded a home win in the series for the first time since 1992.
Martinsville had its own devastating weapons, with Christian Koons crashing for 133 rushing yards and a first-half touchdown that gave the Artesians a halftime lead. But Chastain exploded for a 58-yard touchdown run on the second play of the second half, and he connected with Cam Gates for a 44-yard bomb that set up a Horton touchdown and two-score lead. The Stars made that work, although not without late daring and drama.
“Gamechanger. Unbelievable,” BNL coach Brayden Tidd said after his quarterback, in his first varsity start, made all the brilliant plays. “You ask a guy to go in there, play a position he’s never played before – the most important position, besides the line. He was making adjustments, he completed the ball when he threw it. You can’t ask any more of the kid.”
How good were the Stars on offense? They were stopped only once, and that punt got blocked, so they decided not to do that again. When they had to, they burned the final 3:23 to protect their lead. They totaled 244 rushing yards.
”That is awesome,” Tidd said. “I told them all week, the more physical team wins. I thought we made that happen, especially up front.”
The Artesians were equally impressive in the first half. They marched 79 yards on their first drive, with veteran quarterback Chase Davis finding Rylee Butler for 28 yards, setting up a 9-yard bolt by Landon Cazee. BNL answered immediately as Chastain found Malakai Goodman for 37 yards down the right sideline, and Horton finished that off from a yard out.
BNL took its first lead on the next series. Chastain rolled right, threw against his body and hit Goodman for 23 yards. Goodman added a 22-yard run, and then he capped off his highlight drive with a 3-yard TD and 13-7 advantage. But the Artesians came back with another long possession, 15 plays to cover 73 yards (including three third-down conversions) as Koons finally smashed home from 6 yards out.
The Stars snatched back momentum with Chastain’s electrifying burst down the left side, just 24 seconds into the third quarter.,
“That was huge,” Chastain said. “In my opinion, that was one of the plays that won us the game.”
Another was the bomb to Gates. Another was Chastain’s sensational 21-yard explosion through multiple tacklers, followed by a 24 scramble around the right side. That later led to his second score, a 5-yard dash for a 33-20 lead with 5:52 left.
Martinsville made BNL squirm with another touchdown, with Davis lofting a 15-yard scoring pass to Cazee, who made a phenomenal leaping catch among two defenders in the back of the end zone. That got the Artesians within 33-27, needing one more stop to have chance at a game-winning drive.
That did not happen. Facing 4th-and-5 at the 45, with 2:12 left, the Stars rolled the dice. Go for it, or punt? The offense lobbied to run a play. At first, Tidd was listening to conservative reason, trying to draw the Martinsville defense offside with a long count at the line, then sending out the punt team. Then he changed his mind again.
“Punting don’t win you ballgames,” he said. “If it comes down to winning, we’re going to go.”
So they did. Chastain zipped a quick pass to Gates on the left sideline, and he broke loose for the first down. Game over.
“All the thanks to the coaches for having all the trust in the world in me,” Gates said. “I’m just glad I made the play.“
Chastain did damage in the air, completing 9 of 14 for 166 yards. Gates caught five for 83 yards. But the show was the running attack.
”We knew we wanted to challenge these guys to run the ball,” Tidd said. “That’s something we lacked last year. Man, did they take on the challenge.”
“Chastain played great, he played lights out,” Martinsville coach Brian Dugger said. “We couldn’t tackle him. He was a great football player tonight. For his first start, he handled what we threw at him and he made life tough. We couldn’t get him on the ground.”
Davis was 17 of 26 for 166 passing yards, and Cazee (who led the state in receptions a year ago) drew constant double-team attention, yet still snagged 7 for 65 yards, even while battling cramps most of the hot evening.
BNL conquered Martinsville for only the fifth time in the 29-game series.
“It means everything,” Chastain said. “Being able to do it for my guys is amazing. We’ve been thinking about this one since last year.”
BNL will look to use this win as a springboard into the season, with Bloomington North looming in Week 2. The Cougars were thrashed 44-6 by rival Bloomington South in their opener.
Martinsville 7 7 6 7 – 27
Bedford NL 7 6 12 8 – 33
First quarter
M – Landon Cazee, 9 run (Carson Robertson kick), 8:49; BNL – Brody Horton, 1 run (Aiden Dralle kick), 6:07
Second quarter
BNL – Malakai Goodman, 3 run (kick failed), 7:28; M – Christian Koons, 6 run (Robertson kick), 1:50
Third quarter
BNL – Cutler Chastain, 58 run (kick failed), 11:36; BNL – Horton, 9 run (kick failed), 7:48; M – Koons, 6 run (pass failed), 3:11
Fourth quarter
BNL – Chastain, 5 run (Chastain run), 5:52; M – Cazee, 15 pass from Chase Davis (Robertson kick), 3:23
Team statistics
M – First downs 19 (10 by run, 7 by pass, 2 by penalty); Rushing 38-177; Passing 17-26-0-166; Total yards 343; Fumbles 4 (lost 0); Penalties 5-30
BNL – First downs 15 (7 by run, 7 by pass, 1 by penalty); Rushing 39-244; Passing 9-14-0-166; Total yards 410; Fumbles 0; Penalties 6-62
Individual statistics
Rushing – (M) Davis 5-7, Koons 23-133, Cazee 6-36, Whitaker 2-(-8), Parker 2-4; (BNL) Chastain 17-119, Horton 20-100, Goodman 2-25
Passing – (M) Davis 17-26-0-166; (BNL) Chastain 9-14-0-166
Receiving – (M) Cazee 7-65, Johnson 5-52, Whitaker 1-2, Butler 3-40, Littell 1-7; (BNL) Goodman 2-60, Gates 5-83, Gilbert 2-23
