West Bridgewater shuts out East Bridgewater to claim first win in series

WEST BRIDGEWATER — The second year of the Thanksgiving rivalry between East Bridgewater and West Bridgewater took place on Thursday morning, and unlike last season, West Bridgewater dominated their rivals, 35-0. Last season, the Vikings defeated the Wildcats, 36-14, in their first season as Thanksgiving rivals having played one another in the season opener from 2021-23. Overall, the teams have been split in their four matchups in that span until West Bridgewater won on Thursday. “I’m just glad these seniors get to go out with a win, because they’ve been a great group.” Wildcats head coach Justin Kogler said, “And we’ve avenged our losses from last year, and we’re proud of them for that.” East Bridgewater started on offense, but went for a three-and-out after a stop by senior Sean Hancock on John King, and a punt to the 41-yard line gave possession to the Wildcats. Wildcat running back Tyler Holmes was a big contributor on the opening drive, breaking out on a 24-yard run, which brought them inside the red zone. Holmes chipped away with a nine-yard rush that brought him to the one-yard line, and punctuated it with his first rushing touchdown of the game. The Vikings went at it again two more times  in the first quarter and punted both times, after the Wildcat defense made stops on King. In the Wildcats’ second drive of the game, senior quarterback Ryan Nunes made his first pass of the game and connected with Kevin Kearton for 20 yards, which brought them to the Vikings’ 21. A couple of plays later, Holmes ran seven yards for his second touchdown of the opening quarter. In the second quarter, the Wildcats got their first three-and-out drive of the game when Tom Polidori got stuffed by several Viking defenders. After a stalled East Bridgewater drive, West Bridgewater got back to strong offense and capped the drive off when Holmes ran 18 yards for his third touchdown of the half. “He’s not really replaceable just because he could break out on any run,” Kogler said of Holmes. “We’re certainly going to miss him along with all the seniors, but Ty’s big play ability is something we’ll certainly miss.” The second half wasn’t much better for the Vikings as penalties brought back big plays on offense, and they otherwise couldn’t generate many positive plays. Nick Navin added an interception in the third quarter, adding to the strong day from the Wildcats’ defense. Two different Wildcats ran it in for touchdowns in the second half, with Tom Polidori gunning it for 38 yards in the third, and Nunes sneaked it in after the interception by Navin, as the Wildcats cruised to their shutout victory. Holmes and Polidori, nicknamed Sonic and Knuckles by teammates, ran for over 100 yards in their final games as Wildcats. West Bridgewater also sacked King five times, which helped keep the shutout for the entire game. The Wildcats had 17 seniors this season and Kogler said replacing them will be difficult but that the future remains bright for his program. “We have a lot of seniors to replace, so the young guys will have to step up and hit the weights and get stronger, and you’re going to see a lot of new faces next year, and there’s a lot of great returners, and I think we can be right back in the mix next year.”