Bruins look to shake close losses and stay in playoff picture
Trending
WELLSBURG -- The Brooke football team is a couple of plays away from being 7-1. Unfortunately, those couple of plays have not gone their way and they enter the home stretch at 4-4.
After a 4-1 start to the season, Frank Sisinni's Bruins have suffered three-straight losses by a combined four points following last week's heartbreaker in four overtimes at East Liverpool.
The good news is, however, that the Bruins remain very much alive in their quest to end their playoff drought, as they enter the week at No. 14 in the Class AAA standings.
The top 16 qualify for the playoffs in West Virginia.
The Bruins' quest to stay above the cut line begins this week when Elkins comes to Brooke Memorial Stadium for a key battle for both teams.
"We've definitely been on the short end of the stick here versus a couple of teams going to the playoffs. You look at a few points here and there, we could be looking at a different scenario," Sisinni said. "But we've learned some lessons along the way. All of the goals we set are still in front of us here. We're at a point now where we're now in playoffs because we must win now to give ourselves chance to get in the playoffs.
"I think us having been in some close games, some big games against good teams will help us because we've faced adversity, we've learned some things we can do differently. We have some things we can do better and we're working to get better.
"The next one is an extreme challenge for us with a 7-1 team that's going to be a playoff team coming here. We're going to have to be at our best."
Elkins comes to Brooke County with a 7-1 record. They are winners of their last six-straight.
That winning streak has been fueled by the run game, as the Tigers have two 1,000-yard rushers and have scored 42 of their 48 offensive touchdowns on the ground.
Those two backs are Jaden Hatfield (1,119 yards, 18 touchdowns) and Seth Robinson (1,098 yards, 15 touchdowns), both seniors.
"It's not a mystery coming into this one what they do well, this team runs the ball very well," Sisinni said of the Tigers. "They've got 42 rushing touchdowns on the year, and they're scoring 44 points per game. They're on a six-game win streak in the state of West Virginia.
"It's tough to contend with a team that's played well throughout the state with the likes of Fairmont Senior, North Marion, and a few others that are really good teams. They are averaging 380 rushing yards per game, we know that it going to be a battle on the line of scrimmage for us."
The Tigers enter the contest ranked No. 4 in the Class AAA standings trying to lock up home field in the playoffs.
The Bruins are led by sophomore QB Kamden Sperringer, who has thrown for 1,253 yards and 18 touchdowns while rushing for two more scores to give him 20 touchdowns on the season.
Grant Yost (24 catches, 249 yards, three TDs), Bryden Horstin (17 catches, 337 yards, three TDs) and Michael Gibson (17 catches, 221 yards, five touchdowns) are his top targets.
Running the ball, Cole Bolen has 479 yards and six scores, while Kaden Thoma has 301 yards and two scores.
After the meeting with Elkins, the Bruins close the regular season with the annual county-line rivalry showdown with Weir High next week.
The opening kick Friday night on Paul "Bud" Billiard Field is set for 7 p.m.