TECUMSEH — After a slow start, Bethany scored six straight touchdowns en route to a 49-28 win over Tecumseh Friday (Oct. 31) in the 4A-2 finale for the Bronchos.

“(Tecumseh was) able to make some plays early, but our guys just kinda stayed in it,” Bethany coach Jon Arthur said via phone.

Savage junior Wyatt Dodgion showed off his arm and used his legs early. Dodgion scored on a 13-yard run with 10:54 in the first quarter.

After a missed Broncho field goal, Dodgion added a 5-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Clayton Shelton with 2:33 left in the opening quarter.

The Bronchos got on the board on the ensuing possession. Senior Jagger Weaver returned the kickoff 24 yards to the Bethany 49-yard line. A late-hit penalty moved the ball to the Tecumseh 35.

Weaver added a 29-yard catch on a screen pass, weaving through defenders across the field to the Savage 11.

Fellow senior Seth Greiner punched it in to make it 14-7.

Dodgion added another touchdown pass with 7:40 left in the second quarter. He connected with junior Cashawn Thompson on a 9-yard score. Thompson reached over a Bethany defender for the score and Tecumseh’s lead was 20-7 (after a missed extra point).

Dodgion finished with 286 yards passing and three touchdown passes.

“ A few times we actually had pretty good coverage on the (Tecumseh receivers),” Arthur said.”They just put the ball right where it needed to be a couple of times on some big plays.”

From there, Bethany made big plays of their own.

Junior quarterback Brody McLaren used his legs for a 22-yard run and followed that with an 8-yard touchdown run with 5:13 left before halftime.

McLaren then added a 4-yard touchdown run with 46 seconds before halftime for a 21-20 lead.

Senior Baren Tehee got into the act early in the third quarter with a 37-yard touchdown run up the middle.

The Bronchos broke the game open when McLaren connected with a wide open Greiner for a 31-yard score to make it 35-20.

McLaren added another touchdown run, this time from five yards out with 2:19 left in the third quarter.

Sophomore Xzavier McGee closed out the Broncho scoring with 10:06 left in the game with a 3-yard touchdown run.

Arthur was pleased with the way the Bronchos ran the ball against the Savages.

“ I think offensively just our ability, O-line wise, to establish that running game was definitely the difference,” Arthur said. “We were able to have really get some nice chunk yardage in the run game.”

Arthur singled out senior Chase Clanton and junior Ozzie Brown for their efforts.

Defensively, Bethany settled in after falling behind in the first half. Arthur said adjustments were made to try and and contain Tecumseh’s Thompson. He praised Greiner and junior Damyen Aguilar in the secondary.

Arthur said Clanton and and senior Marcos Lopez made big plays up front to stop the run.

“ Those guys made some big plays to kind of really do a good job stopping the run all night long and making them one dimensional.”

UP NEXT

The Bronchos (4-5, 3-3) will make a 2-hour trek to Madill (0-8) to take on the Wildcats for the regular season finale Friday (Nov. 7).

The game will not count in the district standings. Madill forfeited a district game this season. Because of that, the Wildcats aren’t eligible for the playoffs and any district game against them doesn’t count in the district standings.

Blanchard beat Madill, 60-0, Friday.

“ This is a very strange situation,” Arthur said of the district game that won’t count. “Normally you wouldn’t look ahead (to the playoffs) or anything like that, but this may be a situation where that actually is something we can do.”

Photographs courtesy of Kristie Escoe of Life in Action Photography.

	1	2	3	4	F
Bethany (4-5, 3-3)	7	14	21	7	49
Tecumseh (3-6, 0-5)	14	6	0	8	28