On November 13th the Belleville Tigers and the Fordson Tractors met on the shores of Belleville Lake to decide the Division 1 Region 4 winner.
The first quarter was taken up by two drives. After the opening kickoff Fordson controlled the ball until the 6:21 mark, and that’s when they punted the ball to Belleville. Belleville ate up the rest of the first quarter and got stopped on a fourth down and long.
The second quarter was much of the same as both teams would trade possessions without either team giving in. An interception for Belleville would set them up just outside of Fordson territory but ended up punting away the ball. Fordson would get the ball back and drive it down the field to the red zone but fumble it to give it back to Belleville which wouldn’t get past mid field resulting in another punt. A final punt by Fordson, Belleville would put together the best drive of the first half as they would drive to six-yard line, and with help of a pass interference call in the back of the endzone would move them to the three a called back touchdown and a batted away ball would keep the game scoreless going into the half.
After half time Belleville would receive the kick off and as Quarterback Bryce Underwood said following the game that he sent a text to Deshaun Lee last night saying “ I’m putting my trust in you, this is your game.” Lee sent him back this “I got you,” and that was all Underwood needed to see before this one. The first drive of the second half was a quick one as Underwood would find Lee, for the first of three receptions, and they would have that trust pay off as they would connect on a 79-yard touchdown to open the scoring in the game with a minute gone in the third to make it a 6-0 game after a missed PAT.
Fordson would be able to take the lead on the next drive as they drove 80-yards down the field to have the drive capped off by a four-yard touchdown run by Hussein Beydoun would make it 7-6. Scoring would then end after the ensuing Belleville drive which took one play as Underwood would once again find Lee for the 46-yard touchdown. A missed 2-pt conversion would give Belleville a 12-7 lead. Defense would continue to be the story in the game, however on a 4th and 12 near the start of the fourth Underwood would go on to find Lee for a third and final time for a 30-yard catch at a questionable point in the game.
With just over 2 minutes left in the game Fordson would get the ball back down five and out of timeouts. Fordson would begin the drive with a few chip plays before they took a shot down field for Antoino Gates Jr. and Belleville would be called for a pass interference with 1:35 left in the game to set Fordson up inside Belleville territory. However on the following play junior Mychal Yharbrough would get his second interception of the day to seal the victory for Belleville.
Sugared Petal Cake Shoppe Player of the Game
For the player of the game we are giving it to Freshman Quarterback Bryce Underwood. On the day Underwood went 14/25 for 263 yards and two touchdowns. On his performance “It was okay,” Underwood said. “I want to thank my O-line cause they held up way better than they did last time.”