TENNERTON – A dominant defensive effort led the Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School Little Bucs to a 29-6 win over the visiting Elkins Hornets Thursday evening at Freal “Red” Crites Memorial Stadium.

The Little Buc defense didn’t allow a first down and held Elkins to negative six years of offense.

“Our defense has come a long way,” remarked Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Dave Chipps. “They came ready to play tonight. They played well, moved to the ball and gang-tackled. They are starting to have fun on that side of the ball.”

The Little Bucs struck first on their second possession.

Starting at their own 41-yard line following an Elkins punt they found the end zone in just three plays when Brody Jeran took a pitch and went over right tackle untouched for a 15-yard scoring run.

Brody McDaniels found Chance Morgan in the end zone for the two-point conversion to go up 8-0.

On the ensuing kick-off, Elias Jones picked up a bouncing ball at the five-yard line and went down the Elkins sideline for the touchdown with 3:25 remaining in the first quarter.

The Little Buc defense pushed Devin Hulver out of bounds prior to the goal line on the two-point conversion as B-UMS still led, 8-6.

The Little Bucs went right back to work and scored on their next drive on the first play of the second quarter when Jeran ran it in from two yards out.

Aiden Snyder was good on his conversion kick as the Little Bucs went up 15-6.

Following another Elkins punt, B-UMS started at the Hornets’ 19-yard line and scored four plays later when Jeran hauled in a 16-yard pass from Brody McDaniels with 4:19 left in the opening half.

Snyder was again good on his kick as the Little Bucs upped their lead to 22-6.

Taking over at the Elkins 27-yard line following a punt, the Little Bucs found the end zone in just three plays when Forest Catlin hauled in a 22-yard pass from McDaniels with 48 seconds remaining in the half.

Snyder again drilled his kick through the uprights making it a 29-6 contest.

Neither team was able to find the end zone in the second half.

The Little Bucs amassed 245 yards of offense gaining 173 on the ground and 72 through the air.

Dylan Foster led the ground game for B-UMS with 55 yards on seven totes while Catlin added 44 yards on seven carries.

McDaniels completed four of his seven passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns.

Catlin and Jeran each caught one touchdown for the Little Bucs.

“We got some yardage on offense but I thought it was a sloppy game for us on that side of the ball,” stated Chipps. “We missed some blocks but it’s nothing that we can’t clean up in practice.”

The Little Bucs, now 2-0, will go on the road next Wednesday and play the unbeaten 2-0 Taylor County team at Grafton High School.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

“Overall, I was very pleased with how we played,” concluded Chipps. “We have a big game next week. We just have to take each game one week at a time.”