The Gold-Burg Bears wrapped up the second district title in program history on Thursday night with a win against Fannindel on senior night.
The Bears won 70-25, with the game ending about midway through the fourth quarter due to mercy rule.
Gold-Burg was coming in with confidence in its final regular season game. The Bears had won their opening district game at Forestburg the previous week, which at least guaranteed them a playoff spot since they play in a three-team district. Another win would earn them the district title.
Gold-Burg was the favorite coming in with a 5-4 record. Fannindel before the season was picked to finish last in the district, but the Falcons came in with a respectable 3-5 record. Still, the Bears and their fans were hoping they could get the game done early, but it turns out they got more than they bargained for.
Gold-Burg started the game off like it wanted to when Jayton Epperson scored on the first offensive play of the game to go up 8-0. Then Zander Crawford recovered the following onside kick and it looked like the game was going to be a one-sided smash that was done at halftime.
The Falcons showed their first bit of resistance when their defense came up with a quick stop after four plays. The Bears defense followed by getting the ball back on downs and the offense recovering to drive down to score. Levi Hellinger, playing through a hurt thumb, found Epperson for a 10-yard touchdown pass to go up 16-0.
Fannindel’s offense then got some momentum, mixing things up running inside and outside and testing the Bears secondary on pass-run options. The Falcons drove down the field and scored on a short run to cut the lead to 16-6.
Still, Gold-Burg showed it was still in control when Epperson scored on a 34-yard run to improve the Bears lead to 24-6.
Gold-Burg looked to keep the gas pedal down when its defense forced a turnover when Keelyn Case recovered a fumble. The Bears were heading into score when the second quarter started.
Unfortunately, a fumbled handoff exchange from Gold-Burg was recovered by Fannindel at its own 10-yard line to stop that scoring chance.
It did not take long for the Bears to reverse that mistake. The defense recovered another fumble near midfield, this time by Jepperson. The offense moved down into the red zone again and Hellinger found Jepperson again for a seven-yard touchdown pass to make it 32-6.
The Falcons then went on a long offensive drive that sucked up more than four minutes. While they did not end up scoring because Gold-Burg’s defense forced another turnover, taking up so much time proved to be costly since the Bears were trying to end the game by halftime.
Paul Jones intercepted a pass at Gold-Burg’s 10-yard line. Facing fourth down, Jones then got loose for a 67-yard touchdown run to put the Bears up 40-6 with less than a minute to go before halftime.
Gold-Burg would need to score twice to end the game due to the mercy rule being 45 points. The Bears got the first part of the equation to work when Crawford recovered the ensuing onside kick.
Unfortunately, Gold-Burg turned the ball over on a fumbled snap exchange between center and quarterback. Even with the Bears getting the ball right back when Epperson intercepted a deep pass, Gold-Burg was ran out of time.
The Bears went into halftime up 40-6.
The Falcons came out and showed right away they were not just going to lay down and let Gold-Burg end the game early. Fannindel scored on a 21-yard touchdown run from its fast running back on an outside run to make it 40-12.
The Falcons then followed it up by recovering a fumble during the ensuing kickoff to get the ball back. Then Fannindel found this little swing pass to its running back that seemed to exploit the Bears defense multiple times in the second half. The first time it went 20-yards for a touchdown to make it 40-18 midway through the third quarter.
Despite being up multiple scores, the Gold-Burg team was frustrated. A game that seemed to be on the cusp of ending early now was farther away as the team made mistake after mistake.
The Bears got back on track when they scored quickly as Epperson ran for 36-yard touchdown to make the score 48-18. Gold-Burg’s defense then came up with a goal line stand, forcing the Falcons to turn it over on downs at the one-yard line.
The Bears then drove the length of the field before getting Hayden Chambers to score on seven-yard run. Gold-Burg led 56-18 and were one score away from ending the game early heading into the fourth quarter.
Fannindel would not give up though. It again exploited the swing pass to its running back who went 37-yards up the sideline for a touchdown to cut the lead to 56-25.
Despite another setback, the Bears answered back and scored on a 15-yard run from Jones to make it 62-25. Needing a stop on defense, Gold-Burg got more than that. A bad snap from the Falcons led to Jones scooping the ball up and scoring for the game’s final touchdown.
The good extra point from Jorge Morales were the two points that ended the game. The Bears won 70-25 with 6:19 left to play in the fourth quarter.

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