Photo by Nick Henthorn Bridgeport’s AJ Bishop applies a stiff arm to a Frontier defender during a rush attempt Thursday on Perkins Field. Bishop rushed for two touchdowns against the Cougars.

BRIDGEPORT — In the first game of the coaching career of Bridgeport’s Andrew Yahn, the Bulldogs leader wanted them to show some fight.

“The big thing, the mentality we’ve been trying to change with the team– when they faced adversity last year and in previous years, the team would typically just give up, let the other team take over and win the game in the second half,” Yahn said.

On Thursday against Frontier at Perkins Field, it was one game for the Bulldogs program, but one big step for Yahn and his squad.

Bridgeport picked up their first victory of the season, and the first of Yahn’s head coaching career, courtesy of a last-second goal line stand by his defense, 38-34 over the Cougars.

“This game, we had adversity,” Yahn, formerly a coordinator at Linsly before taking over the Bulldogs this offseason, said. “It was back-and-forth, it was a heck of a game and I give Frontier credit, their boys played hard. We just had that little bit left in the tank and we didn’t quit, didn’t give up and they showed how tough they were today. I’m proud of them.”

In a game with nine lead changes and one tie, Yahn saw his new team dig deep to pick up the opening-week victory by the thinnest of margins.

Bridgeport quarterback Jaki Threet rushed for a 13-yard score, and completed a two-point pass to Avery Jackson, with 3:30 showing on the clock to give the Bulldogs a 38-34 advantage. On a make-or-break drive, Frontier wide receiver Avery Powell first reeled in a 30-yard catch, and then came down with a 23-yard catch at the Bulldog one-yardline. With under a minute to play, the Cougars needed mere inches to take a game-clinching lead.

A QB sneak by Frontier’s True King was stuffed by the Bulldogs defensive front on first and goal. With 20 seconds left, a pitch outside to tailback Caleb Kirkpatrick went backwards two yards.

Facing third and goal, Frontier opted for a pass. King was immediately pressured, scrambling to his right before throwing a pass into a crowd which was swatted down as time expired.

“I just told them to not quit,” Yahn said. “The defensive line had to take over in those last two plays and win the game for us. They did on that quarterback sneak, then they got pressure right in his face on that throw, just super proud of the defensive line and the defensive unit. We bent a lot today, but we didn’t break when it counted. It was good to get this first one.”

Bridgeport went 3-7 last season, and as Yahn hopes to build the Bulldogs up as a winning program, it is so far, so good for the first-time headman.

“Hopefully we can use it as a springboard and give us confidence,” Yahn said. “We know we have things to work on defensively, so hopefully we can get those things cleaned up because we have a quality opponent next week in Monroe Central on the road. It’ll be a tough task for us, coach [Jonathan Calder] always has them ready. We’ll do our best to get our guys ready.”

Offensively, it was Threet who starred for Bridgeport on Thursday. The junior rushed for 85 yards and scored thrice on the ground Thursday, also passing for 79 yards. Threet threw a pick on Bridgeport’s first drive, but came right back and hawked an interception along the sideline on Frontier’s subsequent first drive. The junior never came off the field Thursday, wearing many hats as quarterback, deep safety, punter and kickoff man.

“Obviously [Threet’s] very important, because he does everything,” Yahn said. “Offensively he’s running quarterback, had a big fourth-quarter throw to Avery Jackson there on third and long to keep the drive going. Had an interception early in the game which might’ve been the difference, they could’ve scored there but we got them off the field. He does a little bit of everything for us– running, passing, playing defense, taking good pursuit angles on some of those plays they got loose on to make sure those weren’t touchdowns.”

On the other side of the coin, Kirkpatrick was a workhorse for Frontier, rushing 24 times for 175 yards and three touchdowns for the Cougars. In the passing game, Powell was quarterback True King’s top target, catching eight passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns. King was 11-18 overall for 167 yards and two scores.

Frontier out-gained Bridgeport 402-275 on Thursday. Both teams had one turnover, the two teams trading interceptions in the game’s opening drives.

“From our guys, I saw what we’ve been preaching– to play like winners, to never give up no matter what,” Frontier head coach Damon Metheney said. “We had three or four starters go down with cramps and we had to throw some guys in there who really aren’t comfortable playing. I really liked the effort that I saw from everybody, stepping up.”

The Bulldog’s rushing attack was in good hands with AJ Bishop, the junior hauling the rock 13 times for 86 yards and two touchdowns.

The scoring took awhile to get going Thursday. The score was tied 0-0 after the first quarter. Bishop broke things open with a 12-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, which was answered by a six-yard touchdown run by Kirkpatrick. Another Kirkpatrick score and a Threet touchdown rumble had Bridgeport ahead 14-12 at halftime.

The third quarter saw four lead changes as neither team could stop one another. Frontier led 34-30 going into the fourth. Threet turned in his third touchdown run of the night to give the Bulldogs the lead for good late in the fourth.

Bridgeport travels to face Monroe Central next Friday. Frontier hits the road to play Miller on the same day.