TENNERTON – It wasn’t expected to be much of a contest when the unbeaten Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School Little Bucs hosted the winless Robert L. Bland Patriots Thursday evening at Freal “Red” Crites Memorial Stadium.
The Bucs built a 42-0 lead behind two interception touchdown returns at the half and rolled to a 49-0 victory.
Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Dave Chipps freely substituted his roster in the second half as the game had a running clock in the fourth quarter.
“I thought we played up to our level of football,” stated Chipps. “We executed our game plan well and we played a very high level tonight on all three sides of the ball. I’m glad we could get a lot of kids in during the game.”
On the first series of the game, Chance Morgan stepped in front of a Eli Jones pass and returned it 27 yards for the score with just 1:39 ticked off the clock.
Aiden Snyder was good on his conversion kick as B-UMS took a 7-0 lead.
The Little Buc defense held Robert L. Bland on downs as their own 21-yard line on their next possession, and just one play later, Brody McDaniels hit Forest Catlin for a 21-yard touchdown reception.
Snyder was again good on his kick as the Little Bucs took a 14-0 lead with 3:36 remaining in the opening quarter.
The Little Bucs recovered a fumble on the Patriots next drive at their 36-yard line, and after a false start by the Little Bucs, Dylan Foster ripped off a 41-yard run for the third B-UMS touchdown.
Snyder’s kick was good as Buckhannon-Upshur owned a 21-0 lead with 3:08 left in the first quarter.
It took B-UMS two plays to score on their next drive, which started after holding Robert L. Bland on downs at the Patroit 42-yard line.
McDaniels and Catlin hooked up for an 11-yard pass and catch and then Brody Jeran took it 36 yards over the right side for another Little Buc touchdown.
Snyder was again true on his kick as B-UMS upped their lead to 28-0 with 48 seconds gone in the second quarter.
B-UMS needed just three plays to score on their next possession which started at the Patriot 35-yard line after a Catlin interception.
Foster capped off the three-play drive with a 30-yard touchdown run.
Snyder was perfect on his kick as B-UMS took a 35-0 lead with 5:28 still remaining in the half.
Zack Simmons picked off another Jones pass and took it 22 yards to the end zone for the Little Bucs’ sixth touchdown of the opening half.
Snyder’s kick was true as B-UMS increased their lead to 42-0 with 3:12 showing on the second-quarter clock.
B-UMS would take that 42-0 lead into the break with them.
The lone second half score came in the third quarter when Levi Cook ran it in from 12 yards out with 4:37 showing on the clock.
Snyder wrapped up the scoring with his seventh extra-point kick of the game.
The Little Bucs piled up 238 yards of offense getting 206 on the ground and 32 through the air.
Foster led the rushing attack with 80 yards on just three carries while Cook had 41 yards on four totes.
McDaniels completed both of his pass attempts to Catlin for 32 yards.
With the win, the Little Bucs improved to 7-0 on the season and clinched a spot in the Mid-8 Conference championship game which will be played Thursday, Oct. 27.
They still have one regular-season game left as they try to wrap up an unbeaten regular season, hosting Lincoln this Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Robert L. Bland dropped to 0-7 on the year.
The boxscore:
Robert L. Bland 0 0 0 0 – 0
Buckhannon-Upshur 21 21 7 0 – 49
Scoring
Buckhannon-Upshur – Chance Morgan, 27-yard interception return (Aiden Snyder kick).
Buckhannon-Upshur – Forest Catlin, 21-yard pass from Brody McDaniels (Snyder kick).
Buckhannon-Upshur – Dylan Foster, 41-yard run (Snyder kick).
Buckhannon-Upshur – Brody Jeran, 36-yard run (Snyder kick).
Buckhannon-Upshur – Foster, 30-yard run (Snyder kick).
Buckhannon-Upshur – Zack Simmons, 22-yard interception return (Snyder kick).
Buckhannon-Upshur – Levi Cook, 12-yard run (Snyder kick).
TEAM STATSTICS
First downs – Robert L. Bland: 5 (4 rushing, 0 passing, 1 penalty); Buckhannon-Upshur: 8 (7 rushing, 1 passing, 0 penalty).
Rushing yards – Robert L. Bland: 53; Buckhannon-Upshur: 206.
Passing yards – Robert L. Bland: 0; Buckhannon-Upshur: 32.
Total yards – Robert L. Bland: 53; Buckhannon-Upshur: 238.
Passes – Robert L. Bland: 0-9-3; Buckhannon-Upshur: 2-2-0
Penalties – Robert L. Bland: 2-20; Buckhannon-Upshur: 4-30.
Punts – Robert L. Bland: 0-0.0; Buckhannon-Upshur: 0-0.0.
Fumbles – Robert L. Bland: 2; Buckhannon-Upshur: 2.
Fumbles lost – Robert L. Bland: 2; Buckhannon-Upshur: 1.
All-return yards – Robert L. Bland: 48; Buckhannon-Upshur: 64.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Robert L. Bland – Aden Andregg 11-51; Jaxson Thomas 11-7; Eli Jones 5-(-5). Totals 27-53.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Dylan Foster 3-80 (2 touchdowns); Levi Cook 4-41 (1 touchdown); Brody Jeran 1-36 (1 touchdown); Easton Metzner 5-23; Braylon Oldaker 1-14; Branson Triplett 2-12; Kayden Baisden 3-7; Koby Jeran 3-(-1); Nicoli Wolfe 1-(-2); Zack Simmons 1-(-4). Totals 24-206 (4 touchdowns).
Passing
Robert L. Bland – Jones 0-for-9 for 0 yards, 0 touchdowns, 3 interceptions.
Buckhannon-Upshur –Brody McDaniels 2-for-2 for 32 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions.
Receiving
Robert L. Bland – None.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Catlin 2-32 (1 touchdown).
