Bruins topple TCA for first win

After being rained out on Friday night, University School of Jackson came out and executed in all three phases of the game on Saturday night to take care of rival Trinity Christian, defeating them 42-7.

“It was important to come out and set the tone early,” said USJ head coach Rusty Bradley. “I was proud of how our guys handled the day off yesterday with the game being moved back.”

USJ did just that, especially on defense. The Bruin defense forced TCA to punt on its opening drive, giving great field position for USJ as they drove 53 yards, capped off by an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Buie to Ryan Miller in the corner of the end zone to make it 7-0 with 6:04 left in the first quarter.

Forcing the TCA offense to punt again, USJ scored their second touchdown, this time on a big 64-yard pass play from Buie to Miles Ingram to make it 14-0.

USJ’s third touchdown was on a fumble recovery by Eli Brauss, who took it back 38 yards for the touchdown to make it 21-0.

TCA’s offense struggled for majority of the first half, having one drive that went into Bruin territory. After a big run by Noah Holsinger, USJ’s Wesley Craig intercepted the Lion pass and ended the scoring threat.

With 1:08 left in the half, USJ tried to put a few more points on the board, but Charles Campbell’s 58-yard field goal attempt was just short.

“Charles Campbell doesn’t know how valuable he is too this team,” said Bradley. “He is a big weapon, especially when you can force the other team to start their drive on their own 20-yard line.”

Campbell had seven touchbacks on the night in addition to going a perfect 6-for-6 on extra points.

After a 30-yard touchdown pass from Buie to Wells Smith to open the second half for USJ, TCA finally found some offense and threatened in Bruin territory. Facing a fourth down and 13 yards to go, Brock Sizemore found Viktor Horton in the flats, and he scampered into the end zone to make it 28-7 with 7:13 to go in the third quarter.

TCA recovered a fumble in USJ territory on the Bruins’ first play of their next drive, but were unable to generate any points out of it.

“We did good things in spurts tonight,” said TCA’s head coach Blake Butler. “We just are looking to find consistency from everybody.”

USJ scored twice more on a 54-yard pass from Buie to Miller and on a six-yard run from Trevor Spencer to make the final score 42-7.