Fremont Bergan set the tone early and never let up at Memorial Field Thursday, sending Laurel-Concord home with a 32-0 drubbing in the first round of the Class C-2 state playoffs.
Riley Gross ran for two touchdowns, but it was his 61-yard scoring pass to Josh Boggs on Bergan’s first possession that put the Bears back on their heals for the rest of the game.
The Knights were facing third and long from their own 39-yard line when Gross hit Boggs on a 20-yard out pattern near the left sideline. Boggs hauled in the pass in front of the L-C bench, turned up field and went the distance untouched with just over two minutes gone in the game.
"That was big because that got them second guessing any hopes they had that they were going to come in and make an upset," Bergan coach Ron Beacom said. "I’m sure they thought they were doing a pretty good job defensively by putting us in that third and long situation, then suddenly we found Josh and he was open on an intermediate route, he was able to catch it and go the distance."
Bergan went back to its physical ground game in the second quarter, building a 20-0 halftime lead with Christian Victor scoring on a 7-yard blast up the middle and Gross bootlegging a four-yarder to paydirt.
"We felt pretty good about what was happening up front and we thought we were capable of running the ball a little bit," Beacom said. "We weren’t sure how we were going to go about it, we knew we were going to get different looks from them. Probably the biggest thing we found was that our option game was going to be good for us because they were worried so much about us getting wide."
Laurel-Concord’s wide alignment helped create gaps that allowed the Knights to grind out steady yardage between the tackles. When the Bears’ defense adjusted, Gross made them pay by getting to the perimeter on option keepers.
Gross scored his second touchdown a little over a minute into the fourth quarter, going around the left side on a 46-yard run. He finished with 132 yards on 10 carries.
Bergan’s defense, meanwhile, posted its third shutout in the past four games, and scored a defensive touchdown when Tom Wendt went high to snare a Travis Nelson middle screen pass, then rumbled nine yards to the end zone.
The Knights forced four turnovers, including a pair of Matt Sleister interceptions, but three of those takeaways came in the fourth quarter when the Bears were struggling to get back into the game.
"Our defense has been playing well," Beacom said. "You’re only as good as the people who work with you, and I love working with all three of my assistants, they do a great job of preparing our kids. They spend a tremendous amount of time each week putting things together and letting our kids know what to expect."
"Our kids respond to challenges," he added. "We’re dealing with illnesses and injuries, like everyone else probably is right now, and that makes for some interesting practices, but I like the way our kids step up when they’re challenged."
Bergan (7-2) will see a familiar foe in the second round Wednesday when the Knights travel to Elmwood-Murdock (7-2), which beat Lincoln Christian 41-21 in their first-round game. Bergan and Elmwood-Murdock tangled twice last year, E-M won in the regular season and Bergan knocked E-M out during the playoffs.
Laurel-Concord finished with a 5-4 record, losing four of their last five games.
Bergan 7 13 0 12 - 32
Laurel-Concord 0 0 0 0 - 0
AB - Josh Boggs, 61 pass from Riley Gross (Tanner Anderson kick).
AB - Christian Victor, 7 run (kick blocked).
AB - Gross, 4 run (Anderson kick).
AB - Gross, 46 run (kick failed).
AB - Tom Wendt, 9 interception return (run failed).
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