By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
BRYAN (October 3, 2025) – Everything clicked in all phases for the Bryan Golden Bears in their 48-7 Northwest Ohio Athletic League triumph over winless Swanton before a homecoming night crowd at Golden Bear Stadium.
Despite coming up short by three points to Evergreen last week in a high-scoring affair, the Golden Bears got off to an impressive start in claiming their first NWOAL victory of the season.
“It was nice to see,” said Bryan head coach Scott Staten. “We had talked about that going into this game. We continue to shoot ourselves in the foot.
“If we looked good offensively and then maybe we slip up on defense, and we allowed big plays on special teams. It has been an emphasis all week with special teams, defense, and offense, all three phases. It was really nice to see our guys come out prepared and ready to go this week.”
Bryan wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard after receiving the kickoff on its own 35-yard line.
Running back Cade Carlin got it started with an 18-yard run into Swanton territory on the first play of the game. Six plays later, sophomore Hunter Watson scored the first of his two touchdowns with a six-yard scoring run at the 9:47 mark of the first quarter.
Watson would later come up with a huge defensive play nearly three minutes later when Swanton was pinned deep inside its territory at the Bulldogs’ five-yard line.
Swanton quarterback Jayden Wilson had completed a short pass to Dennis Robinson, but Watson, who eventually stripped the ball away from Robinson’s grasp at the Bulldogs’ 2-yard line and took it into the endzone for the touchdown and a 14-0 lead.
“That was huge,” pointed out the Bryan coach on Watson’s strip and score touchdown play. “The aggressiveness is what we’ve been looking for. Just the confidence to go and make those plays.
“Those are plays that guys with experience which were getting every week. We’re so young, but we’re continuing to get game experience. And those younger guys are now seeing what it’s like to make big plays in big games.”
The Golden Bears would score on their next three offensive possessions while building up a 34-0 halftime lead.
Bryan quarterback Jake Arnold, who completed 9 of 12 passes for 139 yards in the game, picked up 28 yards to the Swanton 21-yard line, setting up a 21-yard touchdown pass from Arnold to Jacob Uran in the first quarter.
Carlin, who finished with 90 yards on 11 carries, scored on a 10-yard run in the second quarter, and senior offensive lineman Connor Hogan, who was lined up at fullback, added another score on a five-yard run.
With a running clock already in place, Arnold, who led all rushers with 99 yards on 10 carries, scored on a 17-yard quarterback keeper for a 41-0 advantage in the third quarter.
“You look at those guys there, (Cade) Carlin, (Jake) Arnold, and (Jacob) Uran, they’re really developing into their roles,” said Staten.
“In this part of the season, again, a lot of it is feeling stuff out early on, dealing with injuries, but dealing with youth up to this point.
“We ran some two-back sets there with both Cade Carlin and Hunter Watson in the backfield to give us a great one-two punch back there.
“That was a really good adjustment this week, and those guys really took it and ran with it literally. And Jake (Arnold) is getting more and more comfortable each week.”
Swanton finally got on the scoreboard with 11:24 left in the game as Robinson connected with Chris Foster on a 25-yard scoring pass.
Robinson completed 13 of 29 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown but was also picked off three times. Freshman running back Griffin Fowler scored the final Bryan touchdown in the fourth quarter from ten yards out.
Bryan had a decisive edge in total offense, 410-150, 271 yards coming on the ground and 139 yards through the air. Swanton was held to 150 yards through the air, but minus one yard on the ground on eight carries.
The Golden Bears improved to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the NWOAL heading into Friday’s road contest at Wauseon. Swanton slipped to 0-7 overall and 0-4 in league play as the Bulldogs host Evergreen on homecoming night, also on Friday.
“Everybody keeps talking about how young we are and how down the road we are going to be a good team,” noted the Bryan head coach.
“But to me, if you wait until down the road, that’s not fair to our seniors. They don’t have a down the road; they’re down the road is right now. We have to coach, and we have to play with everything we got for our seniors. Because we owe it to them as a program.”
SHS 0 0 0 7 – 7
BHS 21 13 7 7 – 48
B – Watson 6 – yd run (Luce kick)
B – Watson 2-yd fumble return (Luce kick)
B – Uran 21-yd pass from Arnold (Luce kick)
B – Carlin 10-yd run (kick failed)
B – Hogan 5-yd run (Luce kick)
B – Arnold 17-yd run (Luce kick)
S – Foster 25-yd pass from Robinson (kick good)
B – Fowler 10-yd run (Luce kick)