photo by: Kim North

Bridgeport’s Jaki Threet (1) tries to bring down Oak Glen’s Jacob Everett (33) during their game Saturday afternoon at sun-splashed Perkins Field inside Bill Jobko Stadium in Brookside.

BROOKSIDE — It was Hall of Fame Day on Perkins Field inside Bill Jobko Stadium, but Bridgeport didn’t deliver a performance anywhere near that caliber. The main reason: a pretty good Oak Glen team on the other sideline.

The Golden Bears racked up nearly 400 yards of total offense (373) and held the Bulldogs to less than 100 (88) in a 56-3 shellacking on the perfect fall afternoon for football.

“We had a little bit of a sluggish start, but that’s on me as the head coach,” Oak Glen’s T.J. Miller said. “I’ll make some adjustments on my end, but these guys responded very well in all three facets – offense, defense and special teams – of the game. The players did a great job. The coaching staff did a great job., It was a total team effort today.”

Oak Glen (6-1) was 12th in the latest WVSSAC Class 2A ratings. The top eight receive a home game in the first round of the playoffs. Meanwhile, Bridgeport (3-5) now faces a pair of must-wins in order to qualify for the Division VII, Region 27 playoffs. They entered the game ranked 16th. Only the top 12 advance to the postseason this year.

“We picked the worst day to play our worst game,” Bridgeport’s Andrew Yahn said. “Nothing went right for us today.

“Oak Glen is a big, physical football team and they took it to us today.”

Bridgeport’s Dylan Charlton recovered an Oak Glen fumble on the Golden Bears first series of the game, but the Bulldogs drive stalled after a pair of first downs. Augusto Bettino, a foreign exchange student, kicked a 33-yard field goal to put the hosts ahead 3-0.

It was all Oak Glen from there on as the Golden Bears took the ensuing kickoff and marched 50 yards on five plays as Logan Murray scampered up the middle from 9 yards. After an offsides penalty on Bridgeport on the conversion, Oak Glen went for two and Jacob Everett bulled his way in for an 8-3 margin.

After Cameron Carter intercepted a pass and returned it to the Bulldogs’ 33, Murray capped a 4-play drive with a 1-yard plunge. Chase Hartung converted the first of his half-a-dozen PATs and it was quickly 15-3.

Murray caught a pass over the middle from Maddox Bowen on the second play of the second quarter and took it to the house for a 72-yard connection, making it 22-3.

Bridgeport’s offense, which was non-existent for much of the day, was forced to punt and Carter found a seam before going 78 yards as the rout was on. Bode Konchar (7 yds) and Everett (52) added touchdowns runs before the half as Oak Glen held a commanding 43-3 margin.

With the second half being played with a running clock under the OHSAA’s 30-point mercy rule, both coaches agreed to shorten the second half to 8-minute quarters.

However, that didn’t stop the Golden Bears as they received touchdowns from Kaden Spencer from 35 yards and Christian Chappell from 3.

“Every player got involved today and that made me very proud,” Miller noted. “Like I said, a total team effort.”

Everett led Oak Glen with 91 yards on just four carries. Murray added 81 on 10 attempts as nine different ballcarriers combined for 281 yards on 26 carries. Bowen only completed three of his five passes but finished with 92 yards.

Quarterback Jaki Threet carried the ball 15 times for 69 yards for Bridgeport, but the Bulldogs ended with 44 yards on the ground and a like number through the air.

Oak Glen travels to Kidwell to meet Tyler Consolidated on Friday at 7:30 p.m., while Bridgeport heads south on Ohio 7 to meet rival Shadyside at 7.