Indian Peyton Thompson, 34, had 52 yards rushing, one rushing touchdown and one receiving touchdown in Friday night’s game against Hancock. photos by Lori Younker
by Jamie Harris
The Berkeley Springs High School and Hancock High School football rivalry goes back many years. Both teams have picked up impressive wins over the years. The history and record books have all that documented. However a new name will go into the books as the winning coach after this past Friday night’s game. Behind a balanced offensive attack the Indians snapped a 12 game losing streak and gave second year head coach Chip Breeden his first ever varsity win with a 60-0 win.
Morgan Field was packed as the Tribe hosted the Hancock Panthers in the Battle of the Potomac River. The Indians did not disappoint the home crowd as they came to play football. Hancock took the opening kickoff and could not mount any type of offense and turned the ball over on downs as senior linebacker Luke Spielman made three straight tackles.
From there the Berkeley Springs offense went to work at the Panther 47 yard line. A Hancock defensive offside penalty moved the ball to the Panther 42 yard line. On first and five sophomore running back Evan Thompson took the sweep and rumbled 17 yards to the Hancock 25 yard line. On the next play E. Thompson took the jet sweep and ran another nine yards to move the ball down to the Hancock 16 yard line. On second and one quarterback Gavin Barkley hit freshman receiver Ty’mir Ross for a four yard gain and another Tribe first down. E. Thompson took the next hand off and went straight up the middle of the Panther defense for an eight yard gain. E. Thompson then capped off the drive when he blasted in from three yards out for a Tribe touchdown. E. Thompson added a two point conversion attempt when he took the sweep toss around the left in to give Berkeley Springs an 8-0 lead.
Hancock’s second offensive possession ended pretty quick as the Indians Steve Iden stepped in front of a Panther receiver for an interception to give the Indians the ball at the Panther 28 yard line. Junior Peyton Thompson moved the ball down to the 20 yard line with a tough inside run. On a fourth and one E. Thompson ran the ball to the Panther 11 yard line to give the Indians a fresh set of downs. On second and 11 Barkley then hit P. Thompson on a swing pass and the speedy running back scampered in for another Indians touchdown. The two point conversion was no good, but the Indians held an important 14-0 lead.
Hancock’s third offensive series ended with another three and out and a Panther punt. Berkeley Springs came back out for offense at their own 46 yard line. On second and 10 E. Thompson picked up 20 yards with another strong run off tackle. From the Hancock 36 yard line Barkley rolled right and found sophomore receiver Antonio Sanchez for a 31 yard gain. On first and goal from the eight yard line P. Thompson found the end zone for the second time this time on a strong eight yard run. A two point conversion run by E. Thompson gave the Tribe a 22-0 lead and from there the rout was on.
The Indians kept the scoring going for the rest of the first and second quarter as E. Thompson and offensive lineman Michael Hinkle had touchdown runs. Barkley also found Sanchez for a touchdown pass. By the time the second quarter buzzer sounded the Indians had a 54-0 lead going into locker room at the half.
Berkeley Springs scored one more time in the third quarter as freshman quarterback Ross hit Barkley for a 29 yard touchdown pass to give the Indians a 60-0 lead. The score stayed that way for the rest of the game.
Offensively Berkeley Springs was led by E. Thompson (130 yards rushing and two touchdowns), P. Thompson (52 yards rushing, one rushing touchdown and one receiving touchdown), Hunter Ambrose (22 yards rushing), Ross (55 yards rushing), Davey Hess (26 yards rushing) and Michael Hinkle (two yards rushing and one touchdown).
Barkley (90 yards passing and two touchdowns) and Ross (29 yards passing and one touchdown) led the passing attack. Sanchez (two receptions for 60 yards and one touchdown), Barkley (one reception for 29 yards and a touchdown) and P. Thompson (11 yards receiving and a touchdown) led the attack.
Defensively the Indians were led by Spielman (12 tackles and a sack), Davey Hess (six tackles), Hinkle (six tackles) and Iden (interception).
Next up for Berkeley Springs (1-2) is a road trip to Frankfort (2-1) this Friday, September 20 with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. The Falcons are coming off a heartbreaking 28-27 loss to Weir.
