DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Jersey Shore's Haydn Packer scored a touchdown against Pottsville on Friday.

JERSEY SHORE –Jersey Shore opened its season on Friday night playing hosts to Pottsville and the Bulldogs were doing bulldog things.

Jersey Shore cruised in dominant fashion at home, opening with a convincing 55-12 win against the Crimson Tide.

Even through a thunderstorm delay, the Bulldogs could not be stopped in their season opener at home. The Crimson Tide got the first possession of the game but were quickly stopped by a swarm of Bulldog defenders. Senior defensive end Gabe Andrus, tackle Zach Rooney, and linebacker Haydn Packer all combined to make stops from the opening kickoff.

In the secondary, it was the Bulldogs’ senior cornerback Connor Griffin and two safeties — Brady Jordan and Kooper Peacock — who were stopping the Crimson Tide from even attempting to look deep.

“We liked the way our seniors led the other guys, and they were looking forward to it,” said coach Tom Gravish. “Their hard work paid off. They still have some things to work on but we’re happy with how it turned out.”

DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Jersey Shore's Kooper Peacock puts pressure against Pottsville.

Gravish added: “Our defense was making them punt and putting pressure on them, so we were forcing them into three and outs. I like the way we were running the ball for the most part. There were a couple of plays we’d like to do over, but it was our first game.”

From here, the Bulldogs let their offense do the talking. On their first drive of the game, the Bulldogs got a rushing touchdown at the one-yard line to go up 7-0. Later in the first quarter, the Crimson Tide seemed to settle in a bit. Pottsville defensive back Kole Becker made a nice interception off Bulldogs quarterback Brady Jordan near the Bulldogs goal line that saved what would have been another Jersey Shore touchdown.

The Crimson Tide tried using the momentum from the Becker interception–specifically with nice throws from freshman quarterback Tejay Allen–but Pottsville followed with a three-and-out.

After multiple punt scenarios for Pottsville, the Bulldogs kept their attack coming and never let up. Part of their attack was using their unstoppable running game with the Bulldogs’ Jordan in different formations, and his backfield mate senior Packer. A few plays into the second quarter, Packer reached the end zone once again for yet another touchdown, making the score 21-0.

Then once Kooper Peacock caught a touchdown pass from Bulldogs’ quarterback Jordan for a touchdown, Packer scored again for Jersey Shore, upping the score to 41-0 by halftime. Part of what makes the run game so special for the Bulldogs is their hurry-up style offense–which keeps the defense off balanced–but Packer and Jordan proved themselves tonight as well.

DAVE KENNEDYSun-Gazette Pottsville quarterback Tejay Allen gets pressured by Jersey Shore's Luke Springman during Friday's game.

“We didn’t throw the ball very much tonight,” Gravish said. “As long as we can run it and move the chains, we’ll be pleased with that. We had a new starter on the offensive line, and he did a nice job to help get the running game going for us.”

Defensively, the Bulldogs only allowed two offensive scores throughout the entire game. Both came on big plays–one at the end of the game with 12 seconds remaining–but despite those big plays for Pottsville, the Bulldogs looked like relentless monsters against the Crimson Tide offensive front. This relentless tenacity on defense early on allowed for the Bulldogs to play their second-string guys and for them to get some game repetitions in during the second half.

“We were pleased that we got everyone on our roster in the game tonight,” Gravish added. “We played 12 freshmen in the game and we’ve never done that before.”

In the second half, as the Bulldogs led with their second-string guys and Pottsville continued to fight, the Bulldogs played conservative, keeping the ball on the ground, and proving their running offense was the real deal.

Although the Bulldogs checked the box in the win column tonight and are satisfied with their win, coach Gravish and company understand they have things they want to work on and get better at. But with this being the first game, the coaching staff was pleased with how his team handled the season opener, even having to deal with the game being delayed due to thunderstorms.

DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Luke Springman (53), Connor Griffin (13) and Dierk Stetts (75) celebrate a sack against Pottsville on Friday night.

“All in all, we were pleased with the way they (the team) came out. We talked a lot about sudden changes and this being the first game. We kind of rolled with the punches and were pleased with how they handled the adversity,” said Gravish

(SCORE BY QUARTER, TEAM STATS N/A)

RUSHING–Jersey Shore, Brady Jordan 11-69 TD; Kooper Peacock 1-0; Andrus 6-40; Haydn Packer 18-131 4 TD; Elijah Jordan 4-38; Babcock 1-(minus 3); Whitman 1-(minus 2); Sechrist 7-37 TD; Mauck 2-0.

PASSING–Jersey Shore, Jordan 4-5-1 34 TD; Loomis 3-4 14; Hale 0-1.

RECEIVING–Jersey Shore, Griffin 2-42 TD; Peacock 1-32 TD; Whitman 1-2; Wilson 1-10; Packer 1-9; Herr 1-0; Severano 1-2.

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