Frazier runs to win over Beth-Center
FREDERICKTOWN – A year ago, there was a pretty good chance the winner of the matchup between Frazier and Beth-Center was going to win the Tri-County South.
That’s not the case this season as this year’s matchup featured two teams both searching for their first win of the season.
Mother Nature made both teams wait as storms delayed the start of the second half for just over an hour, but it was worth the wait for the Commodores.
Frazier put together enough big plays on the ground and used a solid effort defensively top Beth-Center 21-14 in a Century Conference game Friday night.
The Commodores grabbed an early 7-0 lead on their opening drive when Chris Pierce scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak, completing a four-play, 65-yard drive that included a 55-yard Brennan Raygor scamper on a sweep.
Raygor was a force to be reckoned with for the Bulldogs (1-1, 1-2), rushing for 174 yards on 20 carries. He did the majority of his damage in the first half when he rushed for 116 yards.
The Beth-Center (0-1, 0-2) defense tightened up after the initial Frazier scoring drive though. While the Commodores committed costly penalties that stalled drives.
After trying to throw the ball for most of its opening drive, Beth-Center turned to Dominic Fundy on the ground and the sophomore responded with some hard-nosed running. Almost all of B-C’s success on the offensive side of the ball came from Fundy, who finished with 133 yards on 28 carries.
However, the Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs two times in Frazier territory in the first half.
Frazier had offensive issues as well, even when it got good field position. Nick Stark recovered a Fundy fumble late in the first half, but it resulted in a missed 25-yard field goal as Frazier took a 7-0 lead into halftime.
The Commodores started the second half in the same fashion as they began the first – with a scoring drive to make it 14-0.
Pierce completed a third-down pass to Raygor, but Raygor fumbled. Wide receiver Josh Cox scooped up the ball and raced 45 yards for a touchdown to give the Commodores a 14-0 lead.
The Bulldogs, however, rallied.
After Drake Zellie recovered a Frazier fumble, Trent Cunko hit Nick Pryor with a 71-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-6. Pryor did most of the work after catching the swing pass and making a couple of tacklers miss before he was off to the races.
Cunko completed 6 of 13 passes for 117 yards, while Pryor had a pair of receptions for 94 yards.
Raygor put the game out of reach early in the fourth quarter on another toss sweep, racing 53-yards for a touchdown to give Frazier a 21-6 lead.
Cunko scored on a quarterback sneak and Fundy added the two-point conversion to pull the Bulldogs within 21-14.
Beth-Center had one more chance, getting the ball back at its own 5-yard line with just over five minutes to play, but couldn’t get much going and eventually turned the ball over on downs.