TENNERTON – The Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers will finally catch a break in the schedule when they visit the winless Grafton Bearcats (0-7) Friday night in a Big 10 Conference match-up.
The Bucs (2-6) have played a ranked opponent the last four weeks as they look to break their four-game losing streak against the Bearcats.
The Big 10 Conference outing will kick off at 7 p.m.
The Bucs are coming off a 27-7 loss on the road to No. 11 Oak Hill but led in the contest 7-6 midway through the second quarter.
“I thought we played well against Oak Hill,” stated Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Zach Davis. “We played about as well as we could for a large stretch of that game. We missed a few assignments which hurt us, but we had some momentum at times. We just couldn’t get it going offensively at times. I thought we played hard.”
Davis said his Bucs had a good week of practice heading into the Grafton game.
“We have had a great week of practice,” said Davis. “Tuesday’s practice was especially good. You would think we are 8-0 the way we practice. We have still been practicing hard. We have guys that want to work hard. We are focused on winning the day and if you can prepare the best that you can, it is easy to keep going.”
Buckhannon-Upshur won the Grafton match-up last year by a 48-0 score, but Davis said the team still remembers the 47-17 setback two years ago in Grafton.
“We still remember that game from two years ago,” remarked Davis. “They beat us pretty good there. We have mentioned that to the team. Our guys are ready to play them. They are ready to go and excited to play.”
Grafton is coming off a 41-7 road loss to Clay County last Friday. Despite their winless mark Davis noted that the Bearcats have plenty of athletes that can hurt another team.
“They have a really good quarterback in junior Camden Foley,” noted Davis. Foley threw a 13-yard touchdown pass last week to put Grafton up 7-0 before Clay scored 41 unanswered points. Foley’s favorite target is junior wide receiver Dillan America.
Grafton will run a spread offense while defensively they run a 4-4.
The Grafton defense surrenders 46.7 points per game.
“They are going to give us a very similar look that Oak Hill showed us last week,” noted Davis.
Davis said for B-U to secure the win they need to hold onto the football on what appears to be a rainy night on tap on the turf field in Grafton.
“We need to take care of the football,” Davis concluded. “We have to limit our turnovers and I think we will be fine. “
Following Friday’s game with Grafton, the Bucs will wrap up their 2023 season next Friday hosting Preston.
