Photo by Kristin Mazgaj Bridgeport’s Joey Bugaji runs with the football during last wek’s win over Frontier.

WOODSFIELD — Coming off its first season-opening victory since 2013, coach Fred Ray’s Bridgeport football team will look for its first on-field 2-0 beginning since running off 12 consecutive victories to open the 2010 campaign Friday night when the Bulldogs travel to battle 0-1 Monroe Central.

Bridgeport did begin the 2012 season with back-to-back wins, however, the first of those was a forfeit victory over Bellaire St. John.

“Starting 2-0 would be a huge momentum boost for us, especially heading into the 100th year celebration of Perkins Field in week three,” Ray admitted. “Hopefully this is something we can keep going and can build on.

“This is my fifth year here and we have had plenty of adversity, but it’s nice to finally get our home field back and get a win there. It has been an awesome week, but it is time to focus on Monroe Central now.”

Led by senior quarterback Colin Jackson the Bulldogs scored early and often in rolling to a cherished 34-22 victory over Frontier last Thursday night. That same night Coach Josh Ischy’s Seminoles traveled into Jefferson County and after taking an early 8-0 lead were pounded 42-8 at Edison.

“We led 8-0, had a score inadvertently called back and watched things snowball from there as the bad breaks piled up,” Ischy said. “I was very proud of how the kids fought early and it was really unfortunate how things turned out. We knew going in that was going to be a tough match-up but felt if we could slow down their run we had a chance, but that wasn’t the case.”

Monroe Central was not able to slow down the Wildcats’ rushing attack as the Seminoles watched two rushers finish with 138-plus yards and surrendered six touchdowns on the ground. That all coming after the visitors had driven 77 yards on their opening possession to take the early advantage.

Sophomore quarterback Tucker Howell did throw for 119 yards and a four-yard touchdown to Logan Powell, while junior Carter Knowlton had a pair of catches for 72 yards for Monroe Central.

“Year in and year out Coach Ischy does a great job with that team,” Ray added. “They always have solid players out there with nice size and some good athletes. They may be a little younger in some spots than they normally are, but they are still an explosive football team.”

Offensive was no problem for the Bulldogs in week one with Jackson accounting for 414 of Bridgeport’s 447 yards of offense. Jackson was 23 of 32 through the air for a career-high 343 yards and three scoring strikes while rushing for 71 more yards and two additional touchdowns.

“I have been very fortunate to have a lot of these kids in my system for a few years now and our practices are starting to translate over onto the playing field.”

The ‘Dogs had plenty of weapons in the receiving corps as well, led by six catches and a touchdown from senior Mason Alberts while junior Lamar Kendricks, Jr. (4-71-2), senior Joey Bugaj (3-82) and freshman Jaki Threet (5-66) were also busy on the night.

“Their quarterback is quite the player,” Ischy said of Jackson. “His stats were very impressive, but he is also a very intelligent player with his reads and decisions, and you can tell he is very well coached. He will be our focal point on defense, but we know we are going to have our hands full. We will try to give him some different looks, but he just doesn’t seem to make a lot of bad decisions.”

Monroe Central has dominated the last three years over the Bulldogs, outscoring the Belmont County squad by a 131-30 margin in picking up three victories, but Ischy knows those numbers don’t mean much heading into Friday night’s contest.

“I know we have had some success against them recently, but you cannot become complacent and expect anything,” Ischy mentioned. “They have a very talented offense and they like to spread the ball around. There is no “buddy ball” with them. I have so much respect for Coach Ray and what he has accomplished. He is a winner and he knows football as well as anyone.”

The Seminoles will look to avoid their first 0-2 start to a season since 2018.