Bethel football dominates Sterling in home opener
Ciers scored four rushing touchdowns, five total in opening-day blowout.
On Saturday, the Thresher football team took on Sterling in their non-divisional home opener. Bethel dominated from the start, winning 53-3 in the end.
The first eight minutes of the game started out slow for both sides until the defense got a big sack on the Warrior quarterback in the Sterling end zone for a Thresher safety.
On their next run down the field, Bethel found their first touchdown of the game with an 11-yard rush from DJ Ciers. They failed on their attempt of a two-point conversion, putting them up just 8-0.
Four minutes later, Ciers rushed for 35 yards to score himself another touchdown and the point-after attempt from Carson Sauseda would be good, putting the Threshers up 15-0 at the end of the first.
“DJ is such a big difference maker for us,” head coach A.B. Stokes said.
Bethel carried their momentum early into the second quarter when Ciers threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Trevon Madison within the first minute to knock their lead up to 22-0.
Not long later, Ciers would find himself in the end zone yet again with a 17-yard run in. The kick from Sauseda was good and brought the Threshers to a comfortable 29-0 lead.
Just 12 seconds of gameplay later, Kade Miller found himself scoring on the other side of the ball after a 27-yard interception and a converted point-after attempt from Sauseda.
“After not capitalizing on some opportunities that I had for a couple of pick-sixes last year, it was really good for me to finally get one into the end zone,” Miller said.
Sterling finally got on the board at the end of the half with a field goal.
The rest of the game was all Thresher offense with no look of stopping. Early in the third quarter Ciers ran for another touchdown of 19 yards to bring their lead to 43-3.
In the start of the fourth Ciers connected with Jayden Cartwright for a nine-yard pass in the end zone. Sauseda made the point-after attempt and went a perfect six for six on the night.
“Sauseda was perfect on PATs last year so we kind of expect him to perform well every week,” Stokes said. The game would end with a Sauseda field goal of 27 yards and bring the Threshers to their 53-3 victory on their home opener.
This score (53-3) is believed to be the largest margin of victory on opening day in Bethel football history.
Ciers led the way for the Threshers with four rushing touchdowns to go along with his 186 rushing yards and 110 passing yards on the night. Miller ended the night with 10 tackles, an interception that led to his touchdown.
“The expectation was for us to come in and not just compete as a team but dominate overall as a team and I felt like we did that,” Ciers said.
The Threshers will be back in action on Sept. 2 as they travel to Leavenworth to take on Saint Mary with kickoff scheduled for 6 p.m.