All of a sudden, the Bruins found their groove.

After a 1-5 start, they used dominant defense to power a five-game winning streak that has them back at .500.

Blackford High School’s girls soccer team beat Alexandria 9-0 on Sept. 16 and Wabash 3-0 on Sept. 18 before dropping a heartbreaker Saturday by a 1-0 score in overtime.

The Bruins, now 6-6, did not allow a goal in their five-game winning streak, topping Taylor, Wapahani, Burris, Alexandria and Wabash by a combined 19-0.

Evelyn Gulley had nine saves in the shutout of Wabash and three against Alexandria. She also had nine saves in the loss Saturday.

Mary Baird led the most dominant of the wins, totaling three goals versus Alexandria. Eliza Wall and Izzi Mays added two apiece, and Lali Jauregui and Janelle Slusher each had one.

Bairdd had a goal and an assist in Thursday’s victory. Katie Lytle and Mays added one goal each.

Though the lack of a full roster is keeping the Bruins from team victories, Hunter Huffman has racked up some individual success as he picked up his 10th and 11th victories in the last week in losses of 5-0 to Frankton on Sept. 16, 4-1 to Elwood on Thursday and 3-2 to Marion on Saturday.

Huffman reached double-digit victories Thursday as he rolled to a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles against Elwood. He was even better Saturday, giving up just one game in a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Marion.

Owen Norton gave the Bruins (2-12) another individual win Saturday, as he rallied for a 4-6, 6-2, 10-4 triumph.

BERNE — A strong freshman season continued Saturday for Gavin Bartrum as he finished 16th to lead the Blackford boys cross country team at the South Adams Invitational.

The Bruins scored 257 points for 11th out of 15 scoring teams. They beat Adams Central on the sixth-runner tiebreaker.

The girls team did not have enough runners for a team score.

Bartrum just missed breaking the 18-minute mark as his 16th-place finish came at 18 minutes, 1.7 seconds. He was six seconds behind Bluffton’s Ryan Schlagenhauf, who took 15th.

Jacob Barry was the No. 2 runner for Blackford with a time of 19:10.4 for 37th place. Rounding out the top five were Isaac Martin (60th – 20:04), Reece Walker (76th – 20:57) and Max Uggen (86th – 21:32).

Kylee Faber finished in 24:57 to take 31st place to lead the Bruin girls. Kayleigh Faber was 37th in 25:28, Addison Flores finished 82nd in 32:55 and Leighton Gadbury placed 87th in 34:02.

Following a run of four consecutive losses, including shutouts to Eastbrook and Marion, Blackford won consecutive games for the first time this season as it beat Alexandria 11-0 on Sept. 16 and Wabash 3-0 on Thursday. It dropped a 9-4 decision to Mississinewa on Saturday.

The Bruins, who are now 3-8-1, were scheduled to play Tuesday at Wapahani.