INDEPENDENCE—Michael Tommer set new school records for passing yards and touchdown passes in a single game in leading Independence to a 42-12 win over visiting Berkshire on Friday.
Tommer completed 14-of-21 passes for a new school record 354 yards and he threw six touchdown passes, breaking the previous school record of five TD passes thrown in a single game.
The air show began after the Blue Devils forced the Badgers to punt on the game’s first possession.
Tommer connected with Kyle Zygmunt on a 70-yard touchdown pass that gave the Blue Devils a 7-0 lead with 7:58 remaining in the opening quarter.
Independence recovered a Berkshire fumble near midfield and Tommer and Zygmunt connected again, this time on a 23-yard touchdown with 4:19 left in the first quarter.
The aggressive Blue Devils then recovered their own onside kick but that drive resulted in a blocked field goal.
Berkshire found some success on the next drive but the Blue Devils held on fourth down and Tommer threw a 56-yard touchdown pass to Cy Jolliffe on the next play to push the Independence lead to 21-0 with 11:34 left in the half.
Once again, Independence’s defense came up with a big fourth-down stop and the Blue Devils took over possession at the Berkshire 23. Tommer and Zygmunt hooked up on a 30-yard touchdown that gave the Blue Devils a commanding 28-0 lead with 8:56 left before the break.
Zygmunt picked off a Berkshire pass and Tommer threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Evan Beacher with 2:48 remaining.
Berkshire’s next drive resulted in what looked like a Zygmunt pick-six but a penalty on the return erased that score.
The Blue Devils had another touchdown erased by a penalty but it wouldn’t matter as Tommer threw a 24-yard strike to Luke Pascarella to close out the Independence scoring with 1:22 remaining in the half.
Berkshire added two second-half scores off of the Independence backups.
Independence improved to 4-1 overall. The Blue Devils travel to Trinity on Saturday. Berkshire dropped to 3-2. The Badgers look to bounce back at Crestwood on Friday.
