Bellbrook overcame a 10-7 halftime deficit and three early turnovers to beat host Monroe 21-10 Friday to wrap up an outright SWBL Southwest Division championship. The Eagles improve to 7-2, 5-0, while Monroe, looking to clinch a share of the title, falls to 6-3, 4-2.
“This is what you play for,” Bellbrook senior Alex Fryman said. “This is as good as it gets. It really is. This is priceless.”
Next week Bellbrook will play for the program’s first playoff berth since 2004. A win over archrival Oakwood will likely lock up a spot in the Division III postseason.
Bellbrook has no chance to host a playoff game. Playing in one, however, would be a huge step for a program that owns eight SWBL titles and seven playoff berths but has been shut out of each for nearly a decade. Since its last winning season (6-4 in 2006), Bellbrook was 30-42 before its current seven-game win streak.
A strong senior class (and the addition/elevation of assistant coaches, including defensive coordinator Jeff Jenkins) can be credited with aiding the turnaround.
Fryman, the team’s starting quarterback and linebacker, is a jackhammer who pounded Monroe.
Fryman threw two TD passes, ran for a TD and had an interception.
Defensively, Bellbrook held Monroe to minus-18 yards rushing on 18 carries. The Hornets’ lone TD came on a fumble return and their second-quarter field goal was set up by an interception.
Bellbrook’s league-title drought shouldn’t last as long again. The Wee Eagles football program (grades 3-6) has three teams in the SWBL pee-wee playoffs for the first time. All three play for divisional championships Sunday. Bellbrook’s seventh-graders were unbeaten.
Lost in Bellbrook’s progress is Monroe’s. The Hornets were 1-9 last year and are looking to finish 7-3 with a win over Preble Shawnee in Week 10. Friday’s SWBL title game between two teams that had losing records and a combined five wins last year was extremely unlikely in August.
“The season has been a huge success but when you’re playing for a league title you want to win it,” Monroe coach Bill Leach said. “But that’s a damn good football team we played tonight. They played tough. Fryman is the catalyst and he’s just a football player. I don’t know how else to describe him. He’s a hell of a player.”
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