OAK HILL – Buckhannon-Upshur certainly held their own against the No. 11 Oak Hill Red Devils but couldn’t keep up with them for four quarters in a 27-7 setback Friday night in non-conference action.
The Bucs lead midway through the second quarter, but Oak Hill closed the game with 21 unanswered points.
“I am proud of our effort,” stated Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Zach Davis. “I think we are playing as good as we can. We will get better this upcoming week and play well next Friday at Grafton.”
Oak Hill scored on their second possession of the game on a five-yard quarterback keeper by Malachi Lewis. The point-after kick was no good as the Red Devils took a 6-0 lead.
The Bucs responded with an impressive 13-play drive that covered 65 yards and ended on a one-yard run up the middle by Daniel Hedricks. The big play of the series was a 17-yard reception by Bryson Johnston from Brody McDaniels.
Wyatt Mason was true on his point-after kick as B-U took a 7-6 lead with 10:58 on the second-quarter clock.
Oak Hill recaptured the lead after sitting up shop on a short field at the B-U 34-yard line after a Buccaneer punt.
They found the end zone in just four plays when Lewis found Armonyi Hicks in the back of the end zone with a 16-yard pass with 5:09 remaining in the first half.
Jackson Pino’s kick was good as Oak Hill took a 13-7 lead, which was the score at the intermission.
Following a B-U punt midway through the third quarter, Oak Hill took over the ball at the Buccaneer 47-yard line.
They found the end zone in four plays on a Jeremiah Mauritz 15-yard run.
Pino’s kick was good again as Oak Hill increased their lead to 20-7 with 2:19 left in the third quarter.
Oak Hill put the game away on the second play of the fourth quarter when Lewis stepped in front of a McDaniels pass next to the B-U sideline and scampered 57 yards for a pick six touchdown return.
Pino’s kick wrapped up the scoring.
Oak Hill outgained Buckhannon-Upshur by a 342-211 margin in total yards.
Oak Hill gained 196 yards on the ground and 146 through the air.
Mauritz led the Oak Hill offense with 130 yards on 20 attempts and one score.
Lewis completed nine of his 12 passes for 146 yards with Elijah Gray hauling in four passes for 92 yards.
Wyatt Morris paced the Buckhannon-Upshur offense with 125 yards on 31 carries.
McDaniels completed eight of his 26 passes for 70 yards.
Carter Zuliani led the B-U receivers with five catches for 40 yards.
Oak Hill improved to 6-1 on the year while the Bucs dropped to 2-6.
Buckhannon-Upshur will now visit Grafton next Friday in a Big 10 Conference game.
Grafton will enter the game with a 0-7 record after a 41-7 road loss to Clay County.
The boxscore:
Buckhannon-Upshur 0 7 0 0 – 7
Oak Hill 6 7 7 7 – 27
(Scoring)
Oak Hill – Malachi Lewis, 5-yard run (kick failed).
Buckhannon-Upshur – Daniel Hedricks, 1-yard run (Wyatt Mason kick).
Oak Hill – Armonyi Hicks, 16-yard pass from Lewis (Jackson Pino kick).
Oak Hill – Jeremiah Mauritz, 15-yard run (Pino kick).
Oak Hill – Lewis, 57-yard interception return (Pino kick)
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs – Buckhannon-Upshur: 16 (8 rushing, 5 passing, 3 penalty); Oak Hill: 17 (9 rushing, 7 passing, 1 penalty).
Rushing yards – Buckhannon-Upshur: 40-141; Oak Hill: 33-196.
Passing yards – Buckhannon-Upshur: 70; Oak Hill: 146.
Total yards – Buckhannon-Upshur: 211; Oak Hill: 342.
Passes – Buckhannon-Upshur: 8-26-2; Oak Hill: 9-13-3.
Penalties – Buckhannon-Upshur: 7-35; Oak Hill: 12-107.
Punts – Buckhannon-Upshur: 5-27.0; Oak Hill: 0-0.0.
Fumbles – Buckhannon-Upshur: 2; Oak Hill: 0.
Fumbles lost – Buckhannon-Upshur: 1; Oak Hill: 0.
All-Return yards – Buckhannon-Upshur: 36; Oak Hill: 41.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Buckhannon-Upshur – Wyatt Morris 31-125; Daniel Hedrick 7-16 (1 touchdown); Bryson Johnston 2-0. Totals 40-141 (1 touchdown).
Oak Hill – Jeremiah Mauritz 20-130 (1 touchdown); James Green 3-33; Malachi Lewis 8-18 (1 touchdown); Tyler Ashmore 2-15. Totals 33-196 (2 touchdowns).
Passing
Buckhannon-Upshur – Brody McDaniels 8-for-26 for 70 yards, 0 touchdowns, 2 interceptions.
Oak Hill – Lewis 9-for-12 for 146 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions; Armonyi Hicks, 0-for-1 for 0 yards, 0 touchdowns, 1 interception. Totals 9-for-13 for 146 yards, 1 touchdown, 3 interceptions.
Receiving
Buckhannon-Upshur – Carter Zuliani 5-40; Johnston 2-26; Hedricks 1-4. Totals 8-70.
Oak Hill – Elijah Gray 4-92; Hicks 2-31 (1 touchdown); David Spaulding 1-13; Zachaeus Lewis 1-13; Carson Treadway 1-(-3). Totals 9-146 (1 touchdown).
