ELKINS – The Buckhannon-Upshur defense shined in posting their first shutout of the season in a 21-0 victory over the homestanding Elkins Tigers Friday night at Tigers Stadium in “The Battle for the Axe.”
The B-U defense gave up just 103 yards of offense and picked off two Nate Sauerwein passes, one by Chase Hackett and one by Ian Strader.
“We played good defense tonight,” stated Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Zach Davis. “We weren’t the best on offense, but we did enough to win. I am proud of our guys; it was a total team effort.”
Buckhannon-Upshur forced Elkins to punt on their first possession and a 48-yard punt return by Bryson Johnston set the Bucs up for their first touchdown.
Starting at the Elkins 24-yard line, Wyatt Morris carried it twice including a 15-yard touchdown run to put the Bucs on the scoreboard with 8:55 left in the opening quarter.
Wyatt Mason’s point-after kick was good making it a 7-0 game.
On their next possession, the Bucs put together a long drive that covered 97 yards in 18 plays that ate up over eight minutes of clock that culminated with a five-yard touchdown run by Morris.
Mason was good again on his kick making it a 14-0 contest, which was the score at the half.
The only score in the second half was a one-yard run by Luke Yardley with 1:57 showing on a third-quarter clock. That drive was 13 plays covering 60 yards.
While not explosive with their longest offensive play being a 15-yard run by Morris, the B-U offense was efficient racking up 246 yards.
They gained 158 yards on the ground averaging 4.2 yards per carry while collecting 88 through the air.
Morris led all ground-gainers with 111 yards on 29 totes with two scores while Yardley added 26 yards and a touchdown on six attempts.
Dawson Tenney completed 11 of his 17 passes for 88 yards and no interceptions.
Carter Zuliani, Strader and Johnston all had three receptions for the Bucs.
B-U was their own worst enemy at times in the game with 12 penalties for 89 yards.
Elkins was led by tailback Nick Bowers who ran for 80 yards on 18 carries.
Sauerwein completed two of his five passes for 23 yards.
The loss dropped the Tigers to 0-4.
The Bucs improved to 2-2 on the season as they will host Morgantown next Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The boxscore:
Buckhannon-Upshur 7 7 7 0 – 21
Elkins 0 0 0 0 – 0
(Scoring)
Buckhannon-Upshur – Wyatt Morris, 15-yard run (Wyatt Mason kick)
Buckhannon-Upshur – Morris, 5-yard run (Mason kick)
Buckhannon-Upshur – Luke Yardley, 1-yard run (Mason kick).
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs – Buckhannon-Upshur: 15 (9 rushing, 4 passing, 2 penalty); Elkins: 7 (4 rushing, 1 passing, 2 penalty).
Rushing yards – Buckhannon-Upshur: 38-158; Elkins: 30-80.
Passing yards – Buckhannon-Upshur: 88; Elkins: 23.
Total yards – Buckhannon-Upshur: 246; Elkins: 103.
Passes – Buckhannon-Upshur: 11-17-0; Elkins: 2-6-2.
Penalties – Buckhannon-Upshur: 12-89; Elkins: 9-78.
Punts – Buckhannon-Upshur: 2-36.5; Elkins: 5-33.2.
Fumbles – Buckhannon-Upshur: 1; Elkins: 0.
Fumbles lost – Buckhannon-Upshur: 0; Elkins: 0
All-Return Yards – Buckhannon-Upshur: 138; Elkins: 36.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Buckhannon-Upshur – Wyatt Morris 29-111 (2 touchdowns); Luke Yardley 6-26 (1 touchdown); Dawson Tenney 2-16; Daniel Hedrick 1-5. Totals 38-158 (3 touchdowns).
Elkins – Nick Bowers 18-80; Riley Rider 4-23; Dylan Fortney 3-(-7); Nate Sauerwein 1-(7); Kayden Phillips 4-(-8). Totals 30-80.
Passing
Buckhannon-Upshur – Tenney 11-for-17 for 88 yards, 0 touchdowns, 0 interceptions.
Elkins – Sauerwein 2-for-5 for 23 yards, 0 touchdowns, 2 interceptions; Bowers 0-for-1 for 0 yards, 0 interceptions. Totals 2-for-6 for 23 yards, 0 touchdowns, 2 interceptions.
Receiving
Buckhannon-Upshur – Carter Zuliani 3-25; Ian Strader 3-18; Bryson Johnston 3-13; Yardley 2-32. Totals 11-88.
Elkins – Caden Ramirez 2-23.
