Berkshire came into a contest with Wickliffe looking to right its ship after a close shave over Trinity the week prior. The Badgers came out and controlled every facet of the game Sept. 20. A first-drive touchdown followed by four other scoring drives in the first half put the Badgers ahead for good. They went on to win, 38-0. Berkshire improved to 4-1 on the season, and Wickliffe fell to 3-2. The Badgers started the contest with the ball and used a lot of sweeps and counters to get the ball down the field. Once inside the Wickliffe 35, that’s when the passing game opened up. Sam Barcikoski completed three straight passes, the last one to Abram Southern for a 16-yard score. Being able to use the run to get to the pass was a key part of the Badgers’ game plan. “It’s a veteran offensive line, and I couldn’t ask for better,” Barcikoski said. “They know what they’re doing, and it’s picture-perfect. With the sweeps, we were able to lull them into the run and then went over top.” After a Wickliffe three-and-out, Berkshire worked its way down the field again and a pair of Barcikoski completions to Brady Wadsworth set the Badgers up at the one. Justin Phillips punched the ball in from one yard out to cap the drive. Wadsworth finished the contest with 120 all-purpose yards on 11 touches. He knows being able to impact the game in every facet offensively makes him a hard player to stop. “A lot of the credit goes to the line,” Wadsworth said. “They’ve been working like crazy and do a great job. When they do their job, that allows us to do our jobs, find those lanes, have time to find the right receiver, it’s perfect.” Berkshire also had a four yard run from Ayden Wiser and a second score from Justin Phillips, this time from 13 yards out. The Badgers got the ball back with just over a minute left in the half at their own 21 and aimed for one more score before the break. Barcikoski connected with four different receivers to get them to the Wickliffe 31-yard line. But three straight incompletions had the Badgers at fourth-and-10, so Coach Josh DeWeese called on Roman Percic for a 48-yard field goal attempt. Not only did Percic drill the kick, he broke the school record for longest field goal that stood since 1993. “We had some bad snaps on extra points early in the game but we got that cleaned up,” DeWeese said. “I think the faith in that unit is huge, Roman makes a lot of kicks like that in practice. If he makes mistakes, he corrects them on the spot. He’s a great competitor. He’s a soccer player and a cross country runner as well.” While the offense was motoring, the Badgers’ defense pitched a strong shutout all contest long. At the half, Wickliffe had just 32 total yards, 26 coming from the six carries from Ralph Jackson. DeWeese was happy to see the defense respond after an up-and-down showing against Trinity. While Percic was called on for a game-winning kick in that contest, the Badgers’ defense made sure that a second magic act wasn’t needed from the kicker. “We honed in on who they are and what they do,” DeWeese said. “They’re a winning team, so we stayed in our keys tonight. Everyone played technical football and did their jobs. It wasn’t just run around and make a tackle. It was come in, do my job and trust the guy next to me tonight.” After a quiet third quarter from both sides, Berkshire capped the scoring with one final touchdown pass from Barcikoski, as he found Dasen Marker from 17 yards out. He finished the game 14-for-21 with 187 passing yards and two touchdowns. Wickliffe compiled 49 yards in its final drive, but a turnover on downs sealed the shutout. The Blue Devils travel to Trinity on Sept. 28, aiming to right their own ship. Berkshire travels to Cardinal on Sept. 27 for the battle for the Kinsman Cup, the last as CVC foes. THE SCORE Berkshire 38, Wickliffe 0