Entering the fourth quarter, Bloomfield found a once-comfortable 28-7 cushion over Irvington trimmed to six points, which could have made the final 12 minutes white-knuckle time for head coach Mike Carter.

Instead, the Bengals tacked on the final 17 points and cruised to a fairly comfortable 45-22 victory over its Super Essex Conference adversary in its first road test of the 2011 season Saturday afternoon.

“One of the things we talked about was that if you're going to be successful, you're going to have a little adversity and you're going to have to overcome it,” Carter said. “We had a couple of times where we could have folded up shop and we didn't quit.” 

Bloomfield (2-1) pulled away in the fourth quarter, starting with a season-long, 37-yard field goal off the foot of senior James Hull before relying on its beefy offensive line to pave the way to two touchdowns that ensured the Bengals would head into Homecoming with a victory.

Led by junior Adam Wooten – who played a strong game despite his grandfather passing away the day before – Bloomfield controlled the ball throughout the final period thanks to the junior trio of Jon Varner, Jaquan Boyd and Kurt Collins.

Although Varner led the way with a season-high 121 yards and a 13-yard scoring run in the second quarter, Boyd and Collins helped the Bengals ice the victory by each rushing for a 9-yard touchdown.

Although the skill players are the ones who see their names in the box score, Carter is quick to credit the Bengals' strength in the trenches.

“We're getting a lot of guys contributing, it's not just four or five [players],” Carter said. “[And] we have some kids with pretty good skill ability.”

Carter's son, senior Mike Carter, finished 7-for-16 with 121 yards passing, but connected for three first-half touchdown tosses to juniors Kyle Christiansen (6 yards), senior Nick Perry (65) and Isaiah Dockett).

After winning their first game away from Foley Field, the Bengals return home for their first Homecoming game since 2009, when they host Millburn on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.  A victory there will give them their first winning streak of the season.

“[We've] just got to keep improving,” the elder Carter said.