BREMEN – The final score to the Bremen-Jimtown football game Friday night suggests this was a balanced offensive game that came down to the wire.

Yes, it was not decided until the last two minutes, but it was anything but an offensive showcase.

Instead it was defense, turnovers and special teams that decided this one and it was Bremen coming away with the wild 29-22 Indiana Northern State Conference victory over Jimtown on Bunge Field. The win is the Lions’ (3-2, 2-0 INSC) third straight and snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Jimmies (1-4, 0-2 INSC), with the last win in the series coming way back in October of 2016. 

“It seems like every week it’s emotional for me, like we did something from the past,” said Bremen head coach Justin Bogunia. “So to get this win, it means a lot to these kids. We had the long losing streak (to Jimtown), just like LaVille all over again (last week).”

How crazy was this one? At halftime, Jimtown only had two first downs – both via a penalty, one pass completion, and 20 yards rushing but led 15-0.

By that point, Bremen had coughed up two fumbles and thrown one interception. The second fumble was run in for a score and after the interception, two Lion penalties helped the Jimmies cover the short 34 yards to paydirt. One of the penalties was an offsides call that gave Jimtown its initial first down on a 3rd-and-1. A pass interference call then put the ball on the Lion 9 and two plays later the visitors were in the end zone.

But then ‘Opposite Night’ happened.

Just 18 seconds into the second half, Bremen’s Grant Beery scooped up a fumble and ran it back 37 yards for a touchdown. After a Jimtown penalty before the PAT attempt, the Lions decided go for 2 and Logan Moser punched it in to pull the home team within 15-8.

“That was the biggest play of the game,” said Bogunia of Beery’s score. “Now we’re within a touchdown. Sometimes you look like an Einstein saying at halftime, ‘Let’s get a stop and a score’, ‘Now we’re within seven and it’s anybody’s game’, ‘We’re down two scores, let’s get it to one’, ‘Give us a shot.’ And they did.”

On the Jimmies’ next possession, Hunter Cannon picked off a pass on the third play and nine plays later Bremen was in the end zone again, this time on a 3-yard Moser run and after the PAT kick the game was tied once again. Key plays included a Jack Wildauer nine-yard scramble, a 10-yard pass from Wildauer to Derek Miller and a horse collar penalty against the Jimmies.

Jimtown then ran eight plays before being forced to punt and Wildauer ran that back 87 yards for another Bremen TD. His PAT made it a 22-point third quarter for the Lions and gave them their first lead. 

The Jimmies finally had a successful eight-play drive covering the end of the third period and the start of the fourth to pull even at 22-all and when Bremen threw its second INT of the game on the next play, the momentum was definitely in favor of Jimtown. 

But this was no regular game.

The Jimmies fumbled two plays later and Jace Pippenger had a scoop-and-score covering 84 yards and suddenly the Lions led again with 8:03 remaining in the game.

There was still one last bit of drama. Starting at its own 30, Jimtown used three pass plays to help march down to the Bremen 6 and a 1st-and-goal situation. A running play netted two yards, but an incomplete pass and a pass for no yardage followed, setting up a 4th-and-goal from the 4. From there the Lions stuffed Owen Glass at the 2, then effectively ran out the last 2:40 to seal the win after Moser muscled for a first down on an eight-yard run up the middle.

“Our defense played a heck of a game,” concluded Bogunia. “Offense struggled, but the defense and special teams picked us up.”

• BREMEN 29, JIMTOWN 22

Bremen  0   0 22 7 – 29

J – Zander Whitaker 10 fumble return (Trasean Baldwin pass from Cameron Inbody)

J – Owen Glass 1 run (Junior Casas kick)

B – Grant Beery 37 fumble return (Logan Moser run)

B – Moser 3 run (Jack Wildauer kick)

B – Wildauer 87 punt return (Wildauer kick)

J – Glass 2 run (Casas kick)

B – Jace Pippenger 84 fumble return (Wildauer kick)

Passing     4-10-28-14-1