Oak Glen quarterback Maddox Bowen looks to throw while being chased by East Liverpool’s Dre’Keim Abercrombie. The Golden Bears won, 34-22, to improve to 7-2. (Photo by Jimmy Joe Savage)

NEW MANCHESTER — Call it the bridge to an impressive victory.

Longtime interstate rivals East Liverpool and Oak Glen clashed for what might be the last time in football Friday night with the Golden Bears claiming a 34-22 win in the Bears’ den.

With it, the Golden Bears snapped a four-game losing skid to the Potters and claimed possession of the esteemed “Battle of the Bridge” Traveling Trophy.

In a series which began in 1965 when Lyndon B. Johnson was in the White House, Friday’s game marked the 46th overall meeting between the Potters and Golden Bears. The only year they didn’t play during that time was the Covid year of 2020. Unless they decide to resume the series sometime in the future, it ends with the Potters holding a commanding 32-14 advantage. But some officials aren’t completely ruling out that the teams might play next year. It’s still to be decided.

The Golden Bears rode the strong legs of freshman running back Jacob Everett who rushed for 275 yards and three touchdowns to spark the win.

“It’s my first one (for that many yards),” smiled Everett. “It was everybody out front and it (the openings) parted like the Red Sea for me. They’re the best line in West Virginia. I love my guys up front so much.”

“I’ll tell you what, Jacob Everett is one of the most coachable kids I have on this team,” praised Oak Glen’s first-year head coach T.J. Miller. “He’s very respectful and works his backside off. First credit to our O-Line, they did a phenomenal job.”

“He (Everett) is a nice player,” said East Liverpool head coach Paul Cusick. “He’s a perfect fit for their offense.”

With the win, Oak Glen, which returned 17 starters from last year’s 1-9 team, improved to 7-2.

“They played a great game and hats off to coach Cusick, but I can’t tell you how proud I am of our team to bounce back after last week’s crushing overtime loss,” said Miller.

For East Liverpool, which had four turnovers in the game, the Potters end an injury-riddled season with a 3-7 record.

“We had four turnovers and it’s hard to recover from four turnovers,” said Cusick. “We had some opportunities to score and we turned the ball over and that just makes it tough. It (the injuries and turnovers) were kind of a synopsis of the season. We just couldn’t make those plays, we made some mistakes and weren’t good enough to overcome it.”

East Liverpool struck first on its second offensive series, driving 45 yards in five plays and scoring on a six-yard run by running back Tamar Tisdale who had 107 yards on 11 carries in the first half before leaving the game with an injury. The Potters added the two-point conversion on a run by Xavier Lara to go up 8-0 at the 7:11 mark of the first quarter.

But mistakes haunted the Potters in the first half who lost two fumbles, including one at the Golden Bears’ 15. They also tossed an interception.

Oak Glen, which had scored on a 36-yard run by Everett, who rambled for 138 yards in the first half alone, capitalized on the second Potter fumble, driving 85 yards to find the end zone on a 35-yard scoring run by Everett at the 9:04 mark of the second quarter. The Golden Bears also added the two-point conversion on a pass from quarterback Maddox Bowen to Jaxon Deremer, giving the hosts a 14-8 advantage which held up at halftime.

East Liverpool tied the game at 14-14 on its opening drive of the second half on a 21-yard keeper around left end by by quarterback Meshach Harris.

But Oak Glen answered with a 15-yard scoring run with 47.4 seconds left on the third quarter clock by Seth Witherow to go back on top 21-14 with Chase Hartung’s PAT boot.

The Golden Bears then iced the game away with two scores to open the fourth quarter on a 30-yard pass from quarterback Maddox Bowen to Cameron Carter and a 20-yard run by Everett with 2:35 left to give Oak Glen a commanding 34-14 lead.

“I was just hoping for a winning season, I wanted team success and to change the culture and we’re doing a great job at it,” stated Everett.

“Jacob is just a freshman and to have the kind of game he did, I’m so excited for him,” said Miller. “Both ball carriers we had in there tonight in Jacob and Witherow are freshmen.”

East Liverpool scored a final touchdown with 1:31 left on a one-yard run by Xavier Lara, who finished with 70 yards rushing on the night. Harris added the two-point conversion run to cut the final deficit for the Potters to 12 points (34-22).

“We had 10 starters out,” said Cusick “We’ve got a lot of these kids coming back next year. “We’ve got to have a great offseason and we’ve really got to buy into the weight room. We’ve got a lot of talent coming back.”

NOTES:

The Potters won last year’s game with Oak Glen, 52-0.

Because the West Virginia high school football season begins a week later that its Ohio counterparts, Oak Glen will play at Clay-Battelle next Friday night in its final regular-season game.