Bulldogs blank Dragons, win third straight region title

Alex Topor, The Meadville Tribune, Pa.
·5 min read

Oct. 21—The Meadville Bulldogs clinched the Region 4 title on Friday night and put an exclamation mark on the 2023 regular season with a 53-0 win against Warren.

Friday's thrashing at Bender Field was Meadville's third straight region title. Something that seemed unlikely several years ago, according to Meadville head coach Ray Collins.

"Andy Herbstritt, our assistant coach, joined us after several years as the middle school coach. This group of seniors was his last group he coached in seventh grade. This group went 2-5 and as he said this was the worst group of football players he ever coached," Collins said. "The point he emphasized was they stayed together, they continued to do the work over the years and they trusted the process.

"Here they are tonight as seniors checking off the box of a third region championship, undefeated in the region for three years and now looking at potentially winning a third District 10 championship. It says a lot about these young men and their commitment and dedication to our program and how they have gotten better every single year. I am so proud of every single one of them".

It was the seniors that made some big plays on Friday. Senior Ryan Reichel intercepted a pass on Warren's first drive. It set up Bradyn Miller for a 13-yard rushing touchdown, the first of three for the junior running back.

Senior Brighton Anderson scored a 47-yarder on the next drive, followed by a 38-yard Jacoby Thompson touchdown late in the quarter.

The offense continued to stay efficient and the defense was aggressive all night long. Anderson and Jordan Lawrence scored on runs in the second quarter to take a 34-0 lead with less than a minute left in the half.

After an excellent kickoff, Warren began a drive on its own 7-yard line. After a long run and a deep pass, the Dragons found themselves near the 30 in scoring position. Thompson kept the shut out alive with an impressive one-handed interception.

Meadville's Miller and Nic Williams scored on rushes in the third quarter before Miller added a seven-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter for his third of the game. He also eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards on the season on the drive. On the following Meadville drive, Lawrence accomplished the milestone as well.

The milestones were something Collins had in mind.

"You never want to get into a distasteful thing where you're running up the score or anything like that. We did want to get those guys close, if not over tonight," Collins said. "That was a goal tonight, besides winning the game. The thing is when you give the ball to Bradyn Miller, Jordan Lawrence and Brighton Anderson, good things are going to happen when they touch the ball. I thought all three of them played really well tonight."

Lawrence ran for 226 yards, Miller 126 and Anderson 85.

Also on offense, Meadville attempted 10 passes but only completed three. Receivers were running open on a handful of plays but the throw was just off the mark, while on other plays the ball hit the receiver in the hands and fell to the turf. The passing game is something Collins hopes to lean more on as the team moves into the postseason.

"There was some stuff we wanted to take a look at, some stuff we wanted to get film on and some stuff we want to make tweaks to. As we found out over the last two years, running the ball can be very efficient, but there are times when you have to be more balanced in the playoffs and have to be able to throw the ball and move the sticks with the pass," Collins said. "We wanted to get our quarterbacks some reps throwing the ball, reading some coverage and getting it out there. We had some balls underthrown and overthrown, but what do you expect from an offense that runs the ball 99 percent of the time? I thought they all did a pretty good job tonight."

The win concluded the regular season for Meadville. The Bulldogs finished 7-2 overall and 5-0 in Region 4 action.

Meadville will play Corry for the District 10 Class 4A title on Nov. 3 or Nov. 4. The date, time and location will be announced at a later date.

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Warren 0 0 0 0 — 0

Meadville 20 14 12 7 — 53

First Quarter

M — Bradyn Miller 13-yard run (Xp missed).

M — Brighton Anderson 47-yard run (Geovani Vinvik Xp).

M — Jacoby Thompson 38-yard run (Xp good).

Second Quarter

M — Brighton Anderson 33-yard run (Xp good).

M — Jordan Lawrence 51-yard run (Xp good).

Third Quarter

M — Bradyn Miller 39-yard run (Xp missed).

M — Nic Williams 9-yard run (Xp missed).

Fourth Quarter

M — Bradyn Miller 7-yard run (Pass failed).

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: W — Nyquist 23-75, Dippold 5-(-28), Harvey 1-1, Ringer 4-10, Corbett 1-(-2); M — Anderson 5-85, Miller 13-126, Lawrence 11-226, Thompson 3-77, Williams 1-9.

PASSING: W Dippold 6-13 78 yards 2 int; M — Thompson 1-5 27 yards, Reichel 2-5 13 yards.

RECEIVING: W — Corbett 3-62, Sowa 2-6, Orth 1-10; M — Ryan Reichel 1-27, Williams 2-13.

Records: Warren 0-9, Meadville 7-2.

Alex Topor can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at atopor@meadvilletribune.com.