As the Buccaneers of Boyd Buchanan gathered together on the field after their 21-0 win over the visiting Cascade Champions a lone voice shouted out of the huddle, “Do we get steak for our pre-game meal next week?” Coach Grant Reynolds replied that it was up to the school’s Quarterback Club. It’s a sure bet that this talented squad will get whatever they ask for after their rousing defeat of the number 10 ranked 2A squad from Bedford County.
As for Thanksgiving Day dinner, the football moms just gained an extra hour or two before they’ll have to have the turkey on the table this coming Thursday. Those homes hosting members of the defensive secondary may also have to have extra security to keep those sticky fingered DBs from grabbing an extra turkey leg or two. The team will practice both Wednesday and Thursday at 10 a.m. to get ready to face a Rockwood squad who had upset number one ranked Hampton earlier in the evening by a score of 28-14. The game will be played at Boyd Buchanan at seven p.m. this coming Friday night.
The second ranked Bucs knew coming into this game that Cascade made its money with the pass. Senior back Clint Babb who had two of the six total picks was asked if he had picked up on anything in particular Cascade quarterback Jared Carkuff was doing that allowed him to break so well on the pass plays. The grinning young man said, “We just studied film. I took film home with me. I could see how he (Karkuff) would just lob the ball up there and have his receivers run to it.” As for motivation, Babb said, “We heard that in warm-ups they got down on our emblem at mid-field, so that really fired us up. It felt really great to win this game.”
Head Coach Grant Reynolds agreed with Babb, “It’s just a great feeling to make it this far. We have an older group of kids – especially in the secondary – and they were always in the right position to make the play.” As for Rockwood, he said, “We’ll exchange film with them tomorrow, come home and take a look at where they are and get to work preparing.” Asked for his personal feelings, the young coach replied, “It’s just great to be where we are now after seeing where we were back in July. This team has a great chemistry, a great family atmosphere to it. One of the coaches who was here in 2003 when we won the state championship says it’s very much like that same feeling the ’03 team had.”
Both teams played to their strengths and it really came down to who played their strength the stronger of the two. The defensive secondary of the Bucs had studied long and hard and it was evident they were the best prepared of either unit from each team. Cascade’s Karkuff had completed 62 percent of his 179 passes coming in to the quarter-final contest but the sticky fingered Bucs held him to completing just 111 yards while completing 15 of 28 attempts with six interceptions. Joining Babb in the burglary department were Seniors Trey Ferguson and Taylor Shull with two picks each.
Six foot, 195 pound senior running back Ben Beasley carried the load on offense with 179 yards on 28 carries and one touchdown. Boyd Buchanan’s other scores came off of a one yard run by Hayden Meadows for the Buccaneer’s first score of the game at 4:30 in the second quarter. Quarterback Andrew Crowe was only 9-3-0 in the passing department for just 31 yards, but he did account for a touchdown on a 3-yard run with 6:31 to go in the third quarter. He also ran for 43 yards.
Cascade ends their season at 10-4, while Boyd Buchanan moves on with a record of 11-1.
Score by quarter:
Cascade 0-0-0-0=0
BB 0-7-7-7=21
1st Qtr – no scores
2nd Qtr
BB – Hayden Meadows 1 run (Joey Glisson kick) 4:30
3rd Qtr
BB – Andrew Crowe 3 run (Glisson kick) 6:31
4th Qtr
BB – Ben Beasley 15 run (Glisson kick) 8:16
Rushing: Cascade – 50; BB – 242
Rushing Atts: Cascade – 17; BB – 55
Passing Yards: Cascade – 111; BB – 31
Passing: Cascade – 28-15-6; BB – 9-3-0
Total Yards: Cascade – 161; BB – 273
Punts/Avg: Cascade – 3/32.6; BB – 5/31.6
Penalties: Cascade – 5/55; BB – 4/35
(Email Dennis Norwood at ladyvols56@att.net)