No. 15 Football Bucs tumble to John Marshall, 31-7

Duane Carpenter
September 17, 2022

GLEN DALE – An early first quarter injury to quarterback/defensive back Ian Donnen derailed the No. 15 Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers in their non-conference contest with the John Marshall Monarchs Friday night.

The Bucs dropped a 31-7 decision as Donnen was hurt on John Marshall’s first drive of the game.

“I thought we had a really good game plan for John Marshall, but Ian goes out along with a couple of other players to injury and everything just went out the window,” stated Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Zach Davis.

On that first drive, Conor Fitzpatrick put John Marshall up 3-0 with a 42-yard field goal.

Klypsan Wallace scored on a two-yard run on John Marshall’s next drive to give them a 10-0 lead with 1:21 remaining in the opening quarter.

John Marshall tacked on three more touchdowns in the second quarter on a three-yard run by Wallace, a one-yard run by Jacob Coffield and a 43-yard run by Wallace as the Monarchs took a 31-0 lead at the break.

Buckhannon-Upshur kept John Marshall off the scoreboard in the second half.

B-U’s lone score came late in the fourth quarter when Taiwo Thropp ripped off a 68-yard touchdown run with 31 seconds remaining.

Wyatt Mason’s point-after kick was good for the Bucs.

“This game could have gotten out of control,” concluded Davis. “We held them scoreless in the second half and they kept their starters in on offense for most of the game. We are never going to quit. John Marshall is a good football team. We aren’t there yet but that doesn’t mean we can’t be.”

The Bucs amassed 170 yards of offense, getting all of them on the ground.

Savion Farmer led the ground game with 80 yards on 16 carries while Thropp scored 77 yards on four attempts.

John Marshall racked up 275 yards of offense gaining 181 on the ground and 94 through the air.

Wallace ran for three scores and gained 146 yards on 16 carries.

Coffield completed eight of his 13 passes for 94 yards.

John Marshall improved to 2-2 on the year.

Buckhannon-Upshur dropped to 2-2 and will be off next week on their bye week.

They will return to action on Friday, Sept. 30 at University. Kickoff for that game is slated for 7:30 p.m.

The boxscore:

Buckhannon-Upshur 0 0 0 7 – 7

John Marshall 10 21 0 0 – 31

(Scoring)

John Marshall – Conor Fitzpatrick, 42-yard field goal.

John Marshall – Klypsan Wallace, 2-yard run (Fitzpatrick kick).

John Marshall – Wallace, 3-yard run (Fitzpatrick kick).

John Marshall – Jacob Coffield, 1-yard run (Fitzpatrick kick).

John Marshall – Wallace, 43-yard run (Fitzpatrick kick).

Buckhannon-Upshur – Taiwo Thropp, 68-yard run (Wyatt Mason kick).

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs – Buckhannon-Upshur: 9 (9 rushing, 0 passing, 0 penalty); John Marshall: 13 (10 rushing, 3 passing, 0 penalty).

Rushing yards – Buckhannon-Upshur: 41-170; John Marshall: 27-181.

Passing yards – Buckhannon-Upshur: 0; John Marshall 94.

Total yards – Buckhannon-Upshur: 170; John Marshall 275.

Passes – Buckhannon-Upshur: 0-3-0; John Marshall: 8-13-0.

Penalties – Buckhannon-Upshur: 3-19; John Marshall: 6-56.

Punts – Buckhannon-Upshur: 4-25.5; John Marshall: 1-39.0.

Fumbles – Buckhannon-Upshur: 2; John Marshall: 0.

Fumbles lost – Buckhannon-Upshur: 1: John Marshall: 0

All-return yards – Buckhannon-Upshur: 88; John Marshall: 76.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Buckhannon-Upshur – Savion Farmer 16-80; Taiwo Thropp 4-77 (1 touchdown); Bryson Johnston 7-20; Elijah Bryant 11-11; Dawson Tenney 3-(-18). Totals 41-170 (1 touchdown).

John Marshall – Klypsan Wallace 16-146 (3 touchdowns); JD Wells 3-23; Jacob Coffield 7-13 (1 touchdown); team 1- (-1). Totals 27-181 (4 touchdowns).

Passing

Buckhannon-Upshur – Tenney 0-for-3 for 0 yards, 0 touchdowns, 0 interceptions.

John Marshall – Coffield 8-for-13 for 94 yards, 0 touchdowns, 0 interceptions.

Receiving

Buckhannon-Upshur – None

John Marshall – Braden Sobutka 3-36; Ashton Collett 3-34; Wesley Hughes 2-24. Totals 8-94.