PHILIPPI – Heartbreak is perhaps the only way to describe what happened to the Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School football Little Bucs in their road encounter with Barbour County Wednesday night at Philip Barbour High School.

The Little Bucs put together an incredible late-fourth quarter drive to tie their contest at 14-14 and force an overtime session, only to lose the game in dramatic fashion in the overtime period by a 20-14 score.

The Little Bucs trailed Barbour County by a 14-8 score in the fourth quarter, but took the ball over after holding Barbour County on downs at the Bulldog 43-yard line.

The Little Bucs put together an impressive drive, including converting three fourth down plays, and found the end zone in 16 plays when quarterback Dawson Tenney ran it over the left side with 40 seconds remaining in the game.

The Little Bucs couldn’t convert the two-point conversion, but they still tied the game at 14-14, forcing an overtime period after the Bulldogs ran out the fourth-quarter clock.

The Little Bucs, starting at the Bulldog 20-yard line, couldn’t pick up a first down on their overtime possession and gave the ball to Barbour County for their first overtime drive starting at the B-UMS 20-yard line.

The Bulldogs went backwards on their first three plays, facing a fourth and 26 from the B-UMS 36-yard line.

Then the improbable happened when Barbour County quarterback Dayton Morrison threw up a pass that Cameron Bennett hauled in at the 15-yard line, and he evaded several Little Buc tacklers and found his way to the end zone giving the Bulldogs the 20-14 win.

“The team played hard, but we just didn’t tackle well,” said Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School head coach Dave Chipps. “We just have to do a better job of stopping the turnovers.”

The Little Bucs gave away the ball twice on fumbles in the setback.

Buckhannon-Upshur scored first on a two-yard second quarter run by Tenney and then Tenney tossed the conversion pass to Levi Posey to put the Little Bucs up 8-0.

Bennett ran it in from four yards out late in the second quarter for Barbour County, but the two-point conversion attempt was no good as the Little Bucs led at the half by an 8-6 score.

Barbour County took the lead in the third quarter on a 30-yard halfback option pass from Bennett to Parker McDonald.

Bennett ran in the two-point conversion, giving Barbour County a 14-8 lead before B-UMS tied it up late in the fourth quarter.

The Little Bucs edged Barbour County by a 181-176 margin in total yards.

Little Buc Brody Jeran led all rushers with 57 yards on 14 carries.

The Little Bucs (0-2) will be back in action Wednesday, Sept. 22, at Robert L. Bland. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m.