TENNERTON – Fresh off their 27-16 victory last Friday night over the Philip Barbour Colts, the Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers will be looking for their second straight win tonight when they make the long trek to Lewisburg for a top 20 encounter with the Greenbrier East Spartans.
Kick-off of the non-conference game is slated for 7:30 p.m.
“It’s always good to get a win and be on the right side of things,” noted Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Zach Davis about last week’s performance. “It gives you a much better feeling on Saturday morning, but that said, it doesn’t change anything with how we will prepare for Greenbrier East.”
Davis said the win gave his team an extra boost of confidence this week in practice.
“Guys are starting to find their niche with the team and how they fit into everything here,” stated Davis. “We are seeing some of our starters being pushed for playing time by those behind them. I have said this before: you have to show up every day and perform well in practice to get that playing time. We have a lot of competition going on right now. If somebody doesn’t want to go full tilt in practice today, the player behind you will. The guys have really gotten after it this week in practice.”
Davis said his Bucs, ranked 20th in the WVSSAC rankings, are primarily healthy for the game tonight against the 2-1 Spartans, who are ranked 13th in the first edition of the WVSSAC rankings.
Greenbrier East won their first two outings of the season over Point Pleasant and Woodrow Wilson before dropping a 31-16 decision to Robert C. Byrd last Friday.
The Spartan offense is led by sophomore running back Ian Cline and junior quarterback Monquelle Davis.
Last week, Cline ran for 85 yards on 19 carries and one score while Davis threw for 76 yards and score and added 62 yards on the ground on just eight carries.
“They have a very fast team,” said Davis. “They can go spread on offense or they can go double tight. We will see multiple formations from them. Davis almost dares you to come after him in the pocket because he likes to take off and scramble.”
The Spartans had trouble containing Robert C. Byrd all-state tailback Jeremiah King who ran for 325 yards and three scores. King had touchdown runs of 15 yards, 81 yards and 79 yards.
While King is perhaps the best tailback in the state, the Bucs hope they can attack the Spartans with their own running game with talented junior tailback Savion Farmer.
The Bucs ran for 216 yards last week against the Colts with Farmer having his second straight 100-yard rushing game with 159 yards on 21 carries and two touchdowns in the win.
“Like always, we have to be able to run the ball and stop the Greenbrier East running game to get a victory tonight,” stated Davis. “We have to contain them because if they get loose on the edges, they can really hurt you in that way.”
Davis said he anticipates a good game between the two schools tonight.
“We have a lot of grit on this team,” concluded Davis. “We aren’t going to quit and we certainly aren’t going to lay down for anybody. We are going to give Greenbrier East the best we have.”
Following tonight’s game, the Bucs will have their bye week next Friday and will then host John Marshall on Oct. 1.
