BROOKSIDE — Steubenville Catholic held off homestanding Bridgeport, 15-14, Friday night to spoil the Bulldogs’ Homecoming on the natural grass surface of Perkins Field inside Bill Jobko Stadium.

Although the victory might not have been picturesque, Crusaders (3-5) first year head coach Eric Meek will take it.

“Give my defense and special teams credit. Our punter did a great job and our defense bent but didn’t break,” Meek said. “We held them to 14 points and they can be explosive.”

On the other sidelines, Bridgeport head coach Fred Ray wasn’t happy one bit with the way his squad performed.

“We had six turnovers and still had a chance (to win). We’ve picked the worst time to play our worst ball,” Ray said. “We didn’t play well tonight. We didn’t get it done.

“Usually when you have six turnovers, you’re on the other end of a lop-sided score, but that wasn’t the case tonight,” he continued. “Our defense played well. We just weren’t clicking on offense.”

Steubenville Catholic took advantage of one of four Bridgeport fumbles to take the lead at 7-0. Forced to punt from deep in their end of the field, the snap sailed over Colin Jackson’s head and into the end zone where B.J. Fallon outwrestled Jackson for possession and six points. Daniel Bolster was good on the PAT.

Bridgeport answered quickly as Jackson hit Lamar Kendricks Jr. in stride at the Crusaders’ 25 and Kendricks Jr. took it to the house for a 7-6 reading. The two-point pass failed.

On the Crusaders first snap of the second quarter, Tommy Pergi raced 41 yards to paydirt to make it 13-6. When Bridgeport was whistled for offsides on the PAT, Meek decided to go for two. Quarterback Tyler Ialenti went in standing up for a 15-6 advantage.

There would be no more scoring until late in the fourth quarter when Jackson found Mason Aberts down the near sidelines for 75 yards and a touchdown, cutting the margin to 15-12. Jackson ran for the two points with 4:23 remaining.

The Bulldogs never got the ball back as the Crusaders ran 10 plays and picked up a trio of first downs to run out the clock.

“There at the end our offense ran the clock out with a sustained drive,” Meek noted. “This is something that we can build on and get better.”

Jackson passed for 342 yards on 21 of 37. He threw two TDs and was picked off twice. Aberts and Kendricks Jr. evenly divided 14 receptions and each caught a TD. Aberts had 123 yards and Kendricks Jr. 93. Bridgeport ran the ball 14 times for just nine yards.

Pergi ran for 78 yards and a touchdown on 13 totes for Steubenville Catholic, while Ialenti added 70 on 18 carries. Ialenti completed 8 of 11 passes for 59 yards.

Both teams charted 13 first downs.

Kaylee Bain was crowned Queen at halftime.

Steubenville Catholic 15, Bridgeport 14

Stb CC 7 8 0 0 – 15

Bridgeport 6 0 0 8 – 14

SC-Fallon recovered fumble in end zone (Bolster kick)

B-Kendricks Jr. 53 pass from C. Jackson (pass failed)

SC-Pergi 41 run (Ialenti run)

B-Aberts 75 pass from C. Jackson (C. Jackson run)

RUSHING: Steubenville Catholic 43-191-td (Pergi 13-78-td, Ialenti 18-70, Fallon 10-33, Dorsey 2-10). Bridgeport 14-9 (C. Jackson 11-6, Pyle 2-2, Marshall 1-1)

PASSING: Steubenville Catholic 8-11-59-int (all by Ialenti). Bridgeport 21-37-342-2tds-2ints (all by C. Jackson)

RECEIVING: Steubenville Catholic 8-59 (Petgi 4-25, Fallon 3-32, Petrella 1-2). Bridgeport 21-342-2tds (Aberts 7-123-td, Kendricks Jr. 7-92-td, Threet 3-29, A. Jackson 2-63, Bugaj 1-23, Marshall 1-12)

FIRST DOWNS: Steubenville Catholic 13. Bridgeport 13

FUMBLES-LOST: Steubenville Catholic 0-0. Bridgeport 6-4

PENALTIES: Steubenville Catholic 7-62. Bridgeport 4-27