Looking at the Bulletin Bowl
When Crestview and Baker tee it up for the second annual Bulletin Bowl on Friday, it will match Okaloosa County’s largest school against the smallest public school that plays football.
In every stretch of the imagination this game should always be a mismatch in favor of the Bulldogs.
Even in the years when Baker has an abundance of experienced athletes, Crestview will likely have more athletes, and will always have more depth.
But there is something magical about Baker and Crestview squaring off on the football field. Maybe it’s the idea that David did beat Goliath, and a few years back, Michigan fell to little Appalachian State in one of the biggest upsets in college football history.
I know the Baker kids dream of the upset that would be the highlight of their high school careers. By the same token, Crestview players don’t want to be the team that lost to the small school neighbor to the north.
Friday’s game will only be the fourth football game between the two teams since 1967, but the schools do compete regularly in other sports such as basketball, baseball and softball.
The football rivalry was renewed after a 34-year break in 2001, with the Bulldogs holding off a Baker team led by Vernon Jones to take a 17-9 win. Crestview finished 3-7 that year, Matt Brunson’s first as the Bulldog head coach.
Crestview won again in 2002, posting a 44-0 win. The victory was the first of 13 consecutive wins for the Bulldogs, who didn’t lose that year until they got to the Class 3A state championship game.
After a six-year hiatus the teams met again last year with Crestview coasting to a 35-0 win.
How Friday’s game will pan out is anybody’s guess, but I doubt there are very many prognosticators picking the Gators.
Baker should be improved this year. The Gators are more experienced, have more athletes and have had a good offseason in preparation for the 2010 season. Of course the same could be said of Crestview.
Yes, the Bulldogs lost their one-man wrecking crew of Chris Pickett to graduation, but Jerry Siler looked like a bigger, stronger version of Pickett in Thursday’s Kickoff Classic game against Gulf Breeze.
Once again the Bulldogs have almost as many seniors, 21, as the Gators have players, 31.
And the Gators have nobody that can match the individual size of Bulldogs Will Boler, Dennis Keller, Martez House, Allen Caldwell or Earl Reed.
On paper, the Bulletin Bowl doesn’t look like much of a game, but the last time I checked the game is going to be played at Jack Foster Stadium and not on paper.
Perhaps the biggest thing the Bulldogs have going for them is head coach Matt Brunson, who played and coached at Baker.
Brunson understands the mindset of the Gators each time they take the field against teams that are the Goliaths of the world. Brunson doesn’t need to look at film to know the heart with which the Gators will play and how they will scrap until the final seconds tick off the clock.
Brunson has been in the role of David when Goliath fell.
Stay tuned to see how things turn out Friday night.
