Bloomington North notches first win of Cooper era with 29–20 victory over Bedford

The Bloomington High School North football program has been steady in recent years, finishing above .500 for seven straight seasons. But frequent coaching changes over the last three years have forced the Cougars to constantly adjust.

On Friday, the Cougars put up their first win of the Brett Cooper era, a 29–20 victory over Bedford North Lawrence.

“It’s awesome, I’m not going to underplay that at all,” coach Cooper said. “I’m excited to get that monkey off my back and roll. We should’ve gotten a win last week, but we didn’t. We’ll enjoy it for a couple hours and then we’ll move on to Terre Haute.”

Most of North’s offensive power comes from the passing attack, led by senior quarterback John Bargen. The Illinois native only completed 8 out of his 20 attempts against the Bedford North Lawrence Stars, but amassed 213 yards and 3 touchdowns. Junior wide receiver Nate Walker (3 rec, 159 yds, 2 TDs), junior wide receiver Rashon English (3 rec, 55 yds, 1 TD), and senior wide receiver Luke Freel (2 rec, 46 yds, 1 TD) all scored for the Cougars.

“There’s definitely some stuff to clean up, but overall, I like our outcome,” Walker said. “I like our performance and I think we can get better. I think it gives us a lot more momentum going into next week. We want more wins. We want to score.”

Bloomington North’s defense also stepped up their play in the second half, as the Cougars did not give up a single score. A big interception to open up the third quarter by senior defensive back Kellen Bishop and multiple turnover-on-downs helped the Cougars turn the tide in their favor.

North slowly moved down the field to open up the game. Turning to their ground game behind junior running back Brayden Johnson (14 att, 49 yds) and an end-around by English put the Cougars into plus territory. But the offense found a rough spot and an incompletion on fourth down gave the ball to Bedford.

The Stars capitalized on the turnover as senior quarterback Dayson Kirby (24/41 att, 420 yds, 3 TDs, 1 INT) connected with junior wide receiver Jaden Gilbert (10 rec, 150 yds, 1 TD) for 53 yards. Then two plays later, Kirby found junior wide receiver Cam Gates (4 rec, 98 yds, 1 TD) for a 12-yard touchdown. A blocked extra point meant Bedford North Lawrence was up only 6-0 with just under six minutes in the first quarter.

Bloomington North responded quickly. Only two plays later, Bargen connected with Freel, but instead of getting tackled, Freel pitched the ball to Walker, who ran untouched 66 yards into the end zone. An extra point by junior kicker Andres Firacative gave North a 7-6 lead less than a minute later.

After a punt by Bedford, the Cougars big-play offense showed up again. Bargen connected with Walker for 44 yards. Then, Walker caught a 49-yard reception for a touchdown—but it wasn’t Bargen who threw the pass. A trick play gave Freel the chance to throw for a touchdown. Bloomington North opened up their advantage to 15-6 with a 2-point conversation after the touchdown to open up the second quarter.

“We needed a big confidence night,” Cooper said. “We have good speed on the perimeter, we just got to go execute. I will tell everybody that the hook and ladder is not a play call. Luke just freelanced it and did it on his own. I told him great job, don’t ever do it again.”

Bedford needed a quick score and the Stars found that through the air. Kirby found junior wide receiver Parker Kern (5 rec, 91 yds, 1 TD) for 38 yards, then Gilbert for 16 yards and a touchdown. A made extra point this time cut Bloomington North’s lead to 15-13.

The touchdown did not faze the Cougars. North completed their second 2-play drive of the night. Bargen connected with English for a 55-yard touchdown and put the Cougars up 22-13.

“When you have a balanced attack, typically you can move the ball a bit better,” Cooper said. “In the first half we did some nice stuff on offense. We weren’t able to run the ball, but in the second half we were able to run and that really helped steady the game.”

The back-and-forth battle continued throughout the second quarter. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Kirby found junior running back Malakai Goodman (7 att, 30 yds, 4 rec, 62 yds) for 52 yards. Kirby closed on the possession a couple of plays later by finding Kern for the score and cut North’s lead back down to 22-20.

A three-and-out by the Cougars gave Bedford North Lawrence a chance to score before halftime. Kirby connected with Kern for 20 yards and Gilbert for 13 to put the Stars into the Bloomington side of the field. A sack by senior defensive lineman Lucas Rice and incompletions ended the first half without a chance to score for Bedford.

Coming back from halftime, defenses for both teams up. The Bishop interception gave the ball back to Bloomington North, but senior defensive back Luke Morris returned the favor for Bedford after intercepting a Bargen pass.

“Our defense played a little chaotic in the first half and that caused us some problems,” Cooper said. “We calmed down at halftime, and probably gave up some yards, but we were bend don’t break and we didn’t break.”

A quick punt gave the ball back to the Cougars, but another inception, this time to senior defensive back Driven Axsom, downed the Stars at their own 1-yard line.

Kirby connected with Gates twice to flip the field, but penalties and another turnover on downs gave the ball back to Bloomington North.

More defensive stands from both teams ended the game, but Bargen connected with Freel for 42 yards and the game’s last touchdown to help increase the Cougars margin of victory to 29-20.

Bloomington North (1-1) looks to continue the winning ways next week at Terre Haute South Vigo on September 5.

“I came in mid July, and we changed the whole offense, defense, and special teams,” Cooper said. “Mid July is when most teams have been practicing for a couple of months. We knew there was going to be some road bumps, but we’re okay. We’re training to play in November, and we’re just happy to get a win right now.”