The Bulldogs’ Ben Moody rolled up 210 yards in the
33-20 victory.

By DOUG CHAPIN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

BROOKFIELD — Going into the locker room at halftime Friday night tied with host Brookfield, the Lakeview Bulldogs knew what they had to do in the second half: Give the ball to Ben Moody.

The junior tailback carried the ball on 17 of Lakeview’s first 25 snaps of the second half, gaining 107 yards and scoring on touchdown runs of 2 and 21 yards, as the Bulldogs rolled to a 33-20 Trumbull Athletic Conference victory.

Moody finished with 210 yards on 27 carries. He also scored on a 35-yard burst on Lakeview’s first possession of the game.

Lakeview (4-2, 3-0 TAC) gained all 301 of its yards on the ground and held Brookfield to 186 total yards. The Warriors (4-2, 1-2) went three-and-out on their first three possessions of the second half.

“We felt we were getting stronger as the game went along,” Lakeview coach Tom Pavlansky said. “The Brookfield kids were playing hard, coach [Randy] Clark does a nice job with them. Someone once said you’ve got to win the surest way you know.”

Carrying the load

For Lakeview, that way usually involves Moody, who carried seven times on the Bulldogs’ 10-play, 82-yard drive to open the scoring in the first quarter.

He carried just twice in the second quarter (for 26 yards), but Lakeview snapped the ball only seven times in the period.

Brookfield quarterback Dave Nehlen put together a solid second quarter, connecting on 5-of-7 passes for 69 yards. Four of those completions came on an 11-play scoring drive following an exchange of big-play touchdowns.

Warrior senior Corey Blake had that moment all defensive linemen dream of when he picked off a short pass and returned it 13 yards for a score with 8:58 remaining in the second quarter. When the point after kick missed, the Warriors trailed 7-6.

The Bulldogs’ Vinnie Elias returned the ensuing kickoff 73 yards for a touchdown and the score was 13-6 after the extra point try was blocked.

Nehlen finished off the Warriors’ scoring drive with a 19-yard toss to A.K. Livingston on fourth-and-goal. A 17-yard connection to Mike Bender had Brookfield at the 7, but a sack pushed the Warriors back to the 19.

After a successful two-point conversion off a fake kick was wiped out by an illegal formation penalty, the Warriors kicked the extra point for the halftime tie.

Stepping up

The Bulldogs’ defense responded to the challenge in the second half, stifling Brookfield while Moody and the Lakeview offensive line of John Thomas, Dave Petrosky, Kavin Hazel, Nick Kohuth and Adam Lindsey, plus tight ends Kyle Smedi and Rylan Hardman, ground out the yards.

“They power the ball at you and they wore us down,” Clark said.

“As big as they are and as good as they are, we had nothing for that when they line up with two tight ends and three backs in the backfield.

Moody’s third touchdown of the night came with 9:04 left in the game and made the score 27-13. Sophomore Te Elias took over at tailback and sparked a final Bulldog scoring drive with runs of 12, 11 and 12 yards. He finished off the possession with a two-yard touchdown with 2:45 left to play to make it 33-13.

Brookfield then recorded its initial first down of the second half on the way to a final touchdown which came with 52 seconds remaining.