OWINGS MILLS, Md. – The Bridgewater College football team dropped its season opener to Stevenson 17-0 on Friday night.
The Eagles opened the 2026 season with the football. The second play from scrimmage saw
Parker Burke connect with
Micah Shank for a gain of 14 yards and moved the chains. BC attempted to move the ball forward, but the drive stalled out thanks to pressure by Stevenson up front.
Aiden Grefe came on to punt and flipped the field as his punt was stopped at the STE four-yard line.
Stevenson moved the chains on its second play of the season with a 16-yard toss, but the drive took a sharp turn. Lattimore dropped back and tossed a ball to the right, but it was picked off by
Joey Strong deep in Mustang territory. BC got the ball at the 13-yard line, and a strong rush by
Tommy Nelson put the Eagles inside the 10. BC worked the ball down to the Mustang four and faced a fourth-and-one. Nelson was stopped as BC rolled the dice, and Stevenson took over on downs deep in its own territory again.
The Mustangs took over and put together a methodical drive. Stevenson opened the series with three first downs on four plays, but the BC defense regrouped and forced a third-and-long. A deep pass allowed STE to convert, and the home side followed with a 20-yard completion to move the ball inside the BC red zone. Two plays later, the Mustangs got on the board with a 19-yard connection from Lattimore to Walker for the touchdown. The PAT by Butt was true to make it 7-0 and cap off a 12-play, 95-yard drive that chewed nearly half the quarter away.
Bridgewater opened the second quarter with the football, and a penalty and a connection from Burke to Shank moved the chains. Burke and
Brandon Anderson connected to get BC into Mustang territory, and the ball kept rolling. Shank and Burke connected again to get Bridgewater into the red zone. Burke dropped back again on the next play, but the ball was poked away, and Stevenson fell on it to take over deep in its own end.
The BC defense regrouped after a first down by the Mustangs and forced a punt. Bridgewater got the ball back, but a fumble stalled the drive on its first play. Grefe came on to punt after a three-and-out. BC got the ball back after the defense forced a Mustangs punt. A connection from Burke to Anderson moved the chains for Bridgewater early in the series, but Grefe was called on to punt after the drive stalled on a third-and-one. Stevenson got the ball back with under a minute to play in the half, but the drive took a sharp turn as
CJ Milazzo picked off Lattimore's pass right before the horn to take it into the half at a 7-0 Stevenson lead.
The Mustangs got the ball to start the second half and converted on a third-and-10 to move the chains. The BC defense regrouped and forced a punt that ended in a touchback. Bridgewater's first drive was met by pressure from the Mustangs as back-to-back sacks forced a punt. Grefe came on to punt, and the BC defense did its job to get the ball back, forcing a punt. The punt worked out for Stevenson as the Eagles muffed the return and the Mustangs took over deep in BC territory. The BC defense came on and limited the damage, forcing a field goal to make it 10-0 for Stevenson.
The Bridgewater offense stalled out again after more pressure from the Mustangs. Grefe came on to punt again and drilled a 59-yard punt to flip the field. The Eagles got the ball back after a three-and-out led by a play in the secondary by
Munashe Gwashavanhu that forced a punt. BC was able to move the chains on the first play of the series after a screen pass to
Wyatt Jervis for 15 yards, but a dropped pass led to an Eagles punt.
Stevenson got the ball back late in the quarter and put it on the ground. The Mustangs marched down the field, but
Oscar Whitely stalled the series as he picked off Lattimore at the Bridgewater 18-yard line. BC got the ball back, but it was short-lived as Stevenson recovered a fumble on the second play of the series thanks to more pressure up front. The Mustangs took over just 12-yards from paydirt and capitalized. The Eagles forced a fourth down, but Scavetta bulldozed forward past the chains and into the end zone for the score. Butt's PAT was true to make it 17-0 with 9:09 on the clock.
The Eagles got the ball back, needing to score. On second and long,
Tommy Nelson found a seam and rolled forward for a gain of 21 for the first down. A holding penalty erased the Eagles' progress later in the series. Bridgewater was forced to go for it on fourth down, and the Mustangs' pressure up front came through again with a sack to get the ball back with 6:09 to go after the turnover on downs. Stevenson got the ball back and milked the clock with a six-minute drive to wrap up the shutout.
Nelson led BC offensively with 50 yards on the ground. Burke was 17-for-24 passing for 118 yards. Anderson led the receiving corps with six catches for 38 yards. Defensively, Whitely led the way with nine tackles and an interception. Milazzo and
Baylor Jones each had seven tackles, while
Joey Strong had the lone TFL for the Eagles. Grefe had a successful day punting the football with a pair of attempts over 50 yards.
Scavetta led the Mustangs' rushing attack with 73 of their 161 yards on the ground. Lattimore was 12-of27 through the air for 192 yards and a score. Marshall led Stevenson with nine tackles and a pair of solo TFL.
The Mustangs' pass rush tallied five sacks and limited BC up front to just 24 net yards on the ground. Stevenson out gained Bridgewater 353 yds to 142 yds. BC was just 2-for-10 on third down compared to 6-of-14 for Stevenson.
Bridgewater is back in action on Saturday in its home opener against No. 20 Susquehanna. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. on Family Weekend,
