Photo by Cody Tomer Brooke’s Braelyn Sperringer looks to scramble during Friday’s win over Marietta.

WELLSBURG – Coming off a two-week break, and after its first loss of the season, there was plenty of rust showing on the Brooke football team in the first quarter of Friday night’s clash with visiting Marietta.

But after putting itself in an early 14-point hole, the Bruins got their acts together and Coach Mac McLean’s squad accomplished something it hadn’t done since 2015, win its third football game of the season by the first week of October.

Sophomore Jace Campinelli rushed for 133 yards and two second half touchdowns and the Brooke defense recorded an interception and a safety in the final 3:43 of play to seal the deal as the Bruins escaped with a come-from-behind, 30-21, victory over the Tigers at Brooke Memorial Stadium on Paul “Bud” Billiard Field.

With the win Brooke improves to 3-1 on the campaign with Oak Glen scheduled to pay a visit next Friday night.

“It’s still early but sitting here with three wins right now is a nice place to be,” a smiling McLean admitted afterwards. “I know Saturday mornings have been a lot nicer this season.”

Knotted at 14 at the break, the Bruins took the second half kickoff, and with Campinelli getting most of the work, methodically moved 75 yards on 11 plays while taking 4:43 off the clock. Campinelli’s 16-yard burst up-the-middle capped the drive and the hosts had their first lead of the night at 21-14.

It only took Marietta (3-4) 1:39 to answer, with quarterback Tyler Gerber skirting around right end from 10-yards out with 3:04 showing to once again even the count.

But the hosts were not to be outdone, going on another nice drive, this one extending two plays into the fourth quarter with Campinelli once again finishing things off from two yards away with 11:27 to play. The drive covered 80 yards on nine plays and pushed the score to 28-21.

McLean’s squad rushed for 156 yards in the third quarter alone, 231 in the second half and 281 for the contest.

Marietta moved to the Brooke 20 midway through the fourth before turning the ball over on downs. The Tigers once again had the ball at their own 18 with 3:43 to go before a Luke Sechrist interception ended that and had one final chance, again from the 18, before Gerber was swarmed under by a group of Bruins in the end zone on a third down with 2:02 to go to close things out.

“We definitely were not looking to come out and put ourselves in a 14-0 hole right off the bat,” McLean said. “Honestly, we gave them a real good chance to beat us early on. But while this is a young team, we found our feet and they really responded like a veteran group.

“Marietta played a very good game, but we just had a little more at the end. Jace (Campinelli) ran the ball very well (Friday) and (quarterback) Braelyn (Sperringer) got us out of a couple of tough situations with runs. We have been on the other side of that situation, but it is nice to have a quarterback that can bail us out.

“It took a little while for the defense to get going, but when they did, they started playing like we did in the first two weeks of this season. We have to get better, and we have to go out and play for four quarters.”

It didn’t take long for the visitors to dent the scoreboard, thanks to a little trickery and a very big play. On its very first play from scrimmage sophomore Bryce Dotson took a handoff from Gerber, stopped, and lofted a long pass to a wide-open Kayden Durham who finished off a 74-yard catch-and-run. Dillon Meagle’s point-after just 18 seconds into the game made it 7-0.

The Tigers made it a two-score game at the four-minute mark after a low snap on a punt set Marietta up at the Brooke 18. The visitors needed five plays with senior Zachary Bartlett busting in from a yard away for a 14-0 reading.

However, this time the Bruins answered quickly with junior Camden Taylor’s 52-yard kickoff return putting the ball on the enemy 32. A nine-yard Campinelli run followed by a 20-yard strike from Sperringer to Garrett Hornick had Brooke inside the five. Just two plays later Sperringer found the end zone on a keeper to the right with Bailey Serevicz’ PAT cutting the deficit in half at 14-7.

McLean’s squad evened the count at the 4:50 mark of the first half with a nice 44-yard march that began with a Gus Gilbert interception. The Bruins tied things up with an eight-yard pass from Sperringer to Gilbert on a third-and-goal call from the eight.

Marietta missed a pair of golden opportunities with a fake punt putting the ball into Brooke territory before a fumble stopped that drive late in the first quarter. Meagle later had a 24-yard field goal attempt bounce off the upright with 31 seconds remaining in the half to send the teams to the locker room at 14-14.

The Tigers, thanks in large part to their big opening play, had a 195-100 yardage advantage at the break. The Bruins, however, finished with the upper hand, outgaining their guests by a 363-266 margin.