The Upperman Bees moved their winning streak to three games with a 26-21 win over the York Dragons on Friday night in Baxter.
The Bees (5-2, 3-0) were tested by York (1-5, 1-2), but battled back from an early deficit to win their 15th region game in a row, dating back to 2017.
“I’ve got to tip my hat to York,” said UHS head coach Adam Caine. “We saw that they’ve played pretty good defense all year, but they kind of got their stuff together offensively. I’m going to give them credit. They outplayed us. They were the aggressor all night long. The one thing I’ll say about my group is, we’ve got some fighters. We’ve got a certain toughness and a certain grit. They’ll fight. We outlasted them. I’m proud of my guys.”
The Dragons have largely been a running football team in 2020, but opened up the offense on Friday. They earned a 7-0 lead after an 18-yard touchdown pass.
The Bees responded with a 27-yard touchdown rush by Ty Dutchess to cut the deficit to 7-6. The teams then traded scores again before the Dragons took a 21-12 lead with a nine-yard touchdown rush.
Upperman cut the deficit back to one with a one-yard touchdown rush by Terrance Dedmon to make it 21-20 at halftime.
The Bees then took their only lead of the contest, and the only one they needed, on a 59-yard passing touchdown from Thomas Ensor to Daniel Metzgar to move the score to the eventual final of 26-21.
The UHS passing offense found its rhythm for the first time this season. Ensor went 9-17 through the air for 159 yards and two touchdowns. Dutchess went 4-5 for 33 yards. Caine said York’s defensive scheme makes it difficult to run, so the effectiveness of the passing game was critical.
“It was extremely important,” said Caine. “They run a scheme that kind of outnumbers you in the box and makes it difficult to run. They’ve got kids that play hard and they played really well. We had to open it up. We were pretty efficient in the passing game. I was pleased.”
The Bees made a defensive adjustment entering the second half and it payed off as they shut out the Dragons over the final two quarters.
“There was a schematic change… and I think it helped,” said Caine. “We were able to get off the field there a couple of times in the second half. We knew we needed to get something, and I think when we changed that up it gave us a little confidence on defense.”
Dutchess rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. Dedmon added 27 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.
Metzgar caught seven passes for 93 yards and a touchdown. Dalton Barney caught two passes for 51 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Jyron McClellan tallied nine tackles. Dutchess tallied 8.5 tackles while Dedmon and Evan Briggs each tallied 6.5 tackles.
The Bees will now enter their off week sitting in first place in the Region 4/3A standings. They will return to the field Friday, October 16 when they take on Grundy County (0-5, 0-1) on the road.
Photos by David Little
