The Gold-Burg Bears exercised several years of demons Friday night with their win against Fannindel at home.
The Bears dominated 51-6 against a Falcons team that has run the district ever since Gold-Burg entered it in 2018.
Fannindel has won the district title three of the four seasons and every year the Falcons have beaten the Bears.
With both teams coming off blowout wins to start district play, the winner would be in firm control of winning the district title.
The Bears started off the game hot. Running back Jayon Grace carried the ball on the first play of the game and took it 60 yards for a touchdown to put Gold-Burg up 8-0.
Fannindel has several explosive skill position athletes who can score when they get into the open field. On the Falcons first drive, a long touchdown run where the running back reversed his field ended up getting called back due to a penalty.
Facing a fourth and long though, another Fannindel player got lose on a run and scored on a 37-yard run to cut the score to 8-6.
On the Bears next drive, Gold-Burg was facing a fourth down when Grace again got loose, this time scoring on a 59-yard touchdown run to go up 14-6.
Fannindel needed to respond, but bobbled snaps and penalties forced the Falcons backwards in what turned out to be the story of the game for them.
Unlike the first drive though, the Bears defense kept the Fannindel athletes contained and forced one of several turnovers on downs on the night.
Gold-Burg looked like it would score on its next drive, getting to the Falcons 10-yard line. Unfortunately a fumbled snap allowed Fannindel to recover the fumble.
The Bears defense held firm as rushers Kolton Whitaker and Aidan Foster combined to keep the Falcons runners from getting outside and making plays. That along with Fannindel’s problems with penalties and bad snaps made it tough all night.
While the fear of the big play was there with several of the Falcon athletes having the ability to score on any given play, the degree of difficulty was high since sustained drives were few and far between on Friday night.
Gold-Burg got the ball back after a failed fourth down conversion on Fannindel’s 19-yard line at the beginning of the second quarter. The Bears scored on their next play as Kani Grace found Jack Henry wide open on a halfback pass to put Gold-Burg up 22-6.
The rest of the second quarter was a defensive struggle. The Bear defense got two more stops near midfield, but Fannindel’s defense also got a stop.
Gold-Burg got the ball with less than two minutes to go before halftime. The team drove to the Falcon’s goal line where quarterback Jayton Epperson found Kani wide open on a nine-yard touchdown pass with 29 seconds before halftime.
The Bears led 30-6 at halftime.
If things were going to be any different in the second half, Fannindel did not show it on the first drive. The Falcons were in such long yardage and backed up near their own goal line they actually elected to punt the ball, a rarity seen in six-man football.
Gold-Burg then drove down the field on a sustained drive of inside runs featuring the Grace brothers, capped off by Jayon scoring on a 14-yard run to go up 36-6.
Things continued to go bad for Fannindel. The team was again backed up on its own goal line when another mishandled snap led to safety for the Bears, making the score 38-6 and giving Gold-Burg the ball.
The offense executed another long touchdown drive, again capped off by Jayon scoring on an eight-yard run to make the score 44-6.
The end was coming with the Bears needing to score seven more points to end the game early due to mercy rule. Fannindel’s offense again went backwards and turned the ball over on downs deep in its own territory.
Gold-Burg drove down close to the end zone where Kani scored on a short run in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter. A one-point conversion gave the Bears their final point it needed to end the game right there.
Gold-Burg won 51-6.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.