BETHANY – Bethany bounced back from two straight losses with a dominant 42-7 win over Harrah Thursday (Oct. 17) in 4A-2 play.

After dropping two games to the top two teams in the district in successive weeks, the ninth-ranked Bronchos (5-2, 2-2) took a step to solidify their place just behind the district leaders.

It took Bethany four offensive plays for its first score, a 44-yard sprint from junior Judson Gilliland to give the Bronchos a 7-0 lead with 10:19 left in the opening quarter.

Harrah (4-3, 2-2) drove to the Bethany 29-yard line with Panther senior Titus Johnson picking up chunks of yards on the ground during the ensuing possession. However, Harrah turned the ball over on downs.

With Gilliland and senior Jackie Payne rotating at quarterback, the Bronchos added another score on another Gilliland touchdown run, this time from nine yards out to make it 14-0 with 3:08 left in the first quarter.

After another Harrah punt, Bethany scored again early in the second quarter. The drive was highlighted by a 26-yard connection from Payne to junior Evenson Malaska. On the next play, Payne sprinted 37 yards up the middle for a score to make it 21-0 with 9:47 left in the second quarter.

Harrah went away from running the ball with Johnson on the next drive and had to punt.

This time, it took the Bronchos one play to score. Evenson went around the right end and sprinted through defenders down the Bethany sideline for a 57-yard touchdown run. This extended the Broncho lead to 28-0 with 6:50 left before halftime.

Senior Wyatt Geissler gave the Bronchos another scoring opportunity, intercepting Harrah senior Joey McLaughlin to give the Bronchos the ball near midfield.

Bethany went backwards from there and the drive fizzled.

In the second half, the defense again helped set up the offense. After Harrah went three-and-out on the opening drive, a bad snap led to a blocked punt from senior Garrett Johnson. This gave the Bronchos the ball at the Harrah 5-yard line. Gilliland scored from three yards out to make it 35-0 with 9:30 left in the third quarter.

On the ensuing possession, Payne knocked the ball loose from Harrah senior Deven McNeill on a pass play. Payne caught the ball in midair, setting up Bethany at the Harrah 30-yard line.

It took three plays for Bethany to score again. Payne hit senior Garrett Johnson over the middle to extend the lead to 42-0 with 6:10 left in the third quarter.

Harrah denied the Bronchos a shutout with 1:49 left in the game and a lot of reserves in the game. Panther sophomore Brock Day rushed for a 21-yard touchdown to cap the scoring at 42-7.

The Bethany offense produced five rushing touchdowns, three by Gilliland in the win.

“I thought the O-line played their best game of the year,” Bethany coach Jon Arthur said. “Despite having some guys get nicked up throughout the play, we had to play some guys in different positions. They just, they responded really well up front.”

After struggling to contain Harrah’s Johnson early in the game running what Arthur termed a “buck sweep,” the Broncho defense largely shut him down in the second half.

“(Harrah does) some unique things on the offensive side of the ball,” Arthur said. “Guys went in and made some nice adjustments for those first few drives the second half.”

Arthur emphasized the importance of the win as his team plays the other schools that bunched up with the Bronchos in the district standings.

“This was a big one. They obviously played Blanchard very tough a couple weeks ago,” Arthur said. “They’re obviously very capable. It was nice for us to take care of business, but they’re still in the playoff hunt.

“(Harrah) and Ardmore, I think are in that mix right now.”

UP NEXT

Bethany (5-2, 2-2) makes its last road trip of the regular season next Friday (Oct. 25) against Ardmore. The Tigers (4-2, 2-1) fell to fourth-ranked Blanchard, 56-20, Thursday (Oct. 17).

“This is really a huge one just because Ardmore’s obviously played people tough throughout the year,” Arthur said.

Photographs courtesy of Kristie Escoe of Life in Action Photography.

	1	2	3	4	F
Harrah (4-3, 2-2)	0	0	0	7	7
Bethany (5-2, 2-2)	14	14	14	0	42