TENNERTON – Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Sloan Baisden knew his Buccaneers would be up against a huge challenge Friday night when they squared off against the top team in Class AAA and the unbeaten Fairmont Senior Polar Bears at Freal “Red” Crites Memorial Stadium.
The Bucs lost a 55-0 decision in a game with a huge statistic advantage in favor of the Polar Bears, but B-U had perhaps their best defensive outing of the season in the first half against the pass-happy Fairmont Senior team.
In the first half, the B-U defense recorded two sacks on Polar Bear First Team All-State quarterback Brody Whitehair by Colton Wendling and Haiden Tenney and picked him off once on an interception by Aidan Squires.
“I told the team at the half, I could watch them play like that every day,” said Baisden. “I understand the score was 35-0 at the half, but we played hard. We forced turnovers, we hit the quarterback, we tackled in the open field. I loved our effort tonight against a very good Fairmont Senior football team.”
Fairmont Senior took their 35-0 lead at the half behind three touchdown passes from Whitehair, 10-yard pass to Cannon Dinger, a two-yard pass to Jeff Cowger and a 34-yard pass to Brock Martin along with touchdown runs by Chris Wilson (28 yards) and Whitehair (one yard).
Whitehair threw his fourth touchdown pass of the game in the third quarter, an 18-yard strike to Trea Cumberlege and the Polar Bears tacked on two rushing touchdowns, a 70-yard run by Rudy Carrillo and a 74-yard run by Jordan Wagner, in the fourth quarter.
The Bucs struggled rushing the ball finishing the game with -20 yards on the ground.
Dawson Tenney completed three passes for 25 yards and Aiden Snyder completed two balls for 18 yards
Wendling and Kellan Wolverton each caught two passes for B-U.
B-U finished the game with 23 total yards of offense.
“Offensively we still struggled,” noted Baisden. “We did make some plays, just not enough of them.”
Fairmont Senior racked up 478 yards gaining 223 on the ground and 255 through the air.
Chris Wilson led the Polar Bear ground game with 79 yards and a score on seven carries.
Whitehair finished his night completing 18 of his 24 passes for 255 yards and four touchdowns.
The Polar Bears improved to 6-0 on the season.
The Bucs dropped to 0-6.
“No doubt it has been a rough six games, but I still love the effort this team is giving,” concluded Baisden. “The guys played hard, and the energy was there. Our guys are still playing hard, and I give all the credit to the leaders on our team.”
Buckhannon-Upshur will return to action next Friday visiting Lewis County for a 7 p.m. kickoff. Lewis County will enter the game with a 2-3 record after a 34-28 win over Lincoln Friday night.
The boxscore:
Fairmont Senior 21 14 7 13 – 55
Buckhannon-Upshur 0 0 0 0 – 0
(Scoring)
Fairmont Senior – Cannon Dinger, 10-yard pass from Brody Whitehair (Cam Peschl kick).
Fairmont Senior – Jeff Cowger, 2-yard pass from Whitehair (Peschl kick).
Fairmont Senior – Chris Wilson, 28-yard run (Peschl kick).
Fairmont Senior –Brock Martin, 34-yard pass from Whitehair (Peschl kick).
Fairmont Senior – Whitehair, 1-yard run (Peschl kick).
Fairmont Senior – Trea Cumberlege, 18-yard pass from Whitehair (Peschl kick)
Fairmont Senior – Rudy Carrillo, 70-yard run (kick failed).
Fairmont Senior – Jordan Wagner, 74-yard run (Ben Smith kick).
TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs – Fairmont Senior: 18 (9 rushing, 9 passing, 0 penalty); Buckhannon-Upshur: 3 (1 rushing, 2 passing, 0 penalty).
Rushing Yards – Fairmont Senior: 22-223; Buckhannon-Upshur: 22-(-20).
Passing Yards – Fairmont Senior: 255; Buckhannon-Upshur: 43.
Total Yards – Fairmont Senior: 478; Buckhannon-Upshur: 23.
Passes – Fairmont Senior: 18-24-1; Buckhannon-Upshur: 5-18-1
Penalties – Fairmont Senior: 7-53; Buckhannon-Upshur: 5-45.
Punts – Fairmont Senior: 1-19.0; Buckhannon-Upshur: 8-24.4.
Fumbles – Fairmont Senior: 1; Buckhannon-Upshur: 2.
Fumbles lost – Fairmont Senior: 0; Buckhannon-Upshur: 0.
All-Return Yards – Fairmont Senior: 50; Buckhannon-Upshur: 127.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Fairmont Senior – Chris Wilson 7-79 (1 touchdown); Jordan Wagner 1-74 (1 touchdown); Rudy Carrillo 1-70 (1 touchdown); Damani Johnson 6-47; Christian Hrapchak 1-4; Tarran Boda 1-3; team 1-(-22); Brody Whitehair 4-(-32) (1 touchdown). Totals 22-223 (4 touchdowns).
Buckhannon-Upshur – Chance Morgan 2-6; Dawson Tenney 5-4; Eli Watkins 4-3; Daniel Hedrick 2-2; Wyatt Morris 4-0; Aiden Snyder 1-0; Colton Wendling 1-(-3); Cooper Antolini 1-(-4); team 3-(-28). Totals 22-(-20).
Passing
Fairmont Senior – Whitehair 18-for-24 for 255 yards, 4 touchdowns, 1 interception.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Tenney 3-for-15 for 25 yards, 0 touchdowns, 1 interception; Snyder 2-for-3 for 18 yards, 0 touchdowns; 0 interceptions. Totals 5-for-18 for 43 yards, 0 touchdowns; 1 interception.
Receiving
Fairmont Senior – Brock Martin 5-105 (1 touchdown); Logan Canfield 5-51; Trea Cumberlege 2-33 (1 touchdown); Cannon Dinger 2-25 (1 touchdown); Jeff Cowger 2-18 (1 touchdown); Carrillo 1-19; Johnson 1-4. Totals 18-255 (4 touchdowns)
Buckhannon-Upshur – Wendling 2-21; Kellan Wolverton 2-18; Kaiden Marks 1-4. Totals 5-43.
