Despite the fact that Brainerd and Boyd-Buchanan are less than a mile apart on North Moore Road, the two schools have never met in football, until Friday night. For the first time ever, the two schools are now in the same region; which made the first ever meeting very important. The first half was all Bucs as they generated enough offense to keep the Panthers pinned up deep in their own territory.
After a partially blocked punt, the Bucs started their first possession from the Brainerd 29, and it took only five plays to move those 29 yards as E.J. Mathews scored on a 15 yard run and with 7:49 left in the first quarter, Boyd-Buchanan led 7-0. The Panther defense stiffened for the remainder of the half. That's a good thing because the Bucs continued to force Brainerd to start basically every possession from deep in Panther territory.
With the Bucs knocking on the door with a second and goal from the 7 yard line, Brainerd recovered a BBS fumble and set up shop from the Panther 7. An illegal procedure penalty as well as a tackle for loss of five yards, backed them up to the one yard line. On a 3rd down, quarterback Tevin Walker was sacked in the end zone by the Bucs Asa Owens for a safety, and Boyd-Buchanan led 9-0 at the half.
Field position continued to be the name of the game for Boyd-Buchanan as Isiah Dillard returned a short Brainerd kick 35 yards to the Panther 30. Carries of 13, 14, and 3 yards, all by E.J. Mathews and the Bucs extended their lead to 15-0 as the two point try failed. Two possessions later and the Bucs again started deep in Brainerd territory at the 30. Quarterback Cooper Hodge gained 16 yards on one carry then 26 more on another as Isiah Dillard scored on a five yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter, and the Buccaneers led 22-0.
panthers refused to quit.
Brainerd finally got some offense going as the Panthers changed quarterbacks and it worked to perfection. Malik Beavers replaced Tevin Walker and he guided the Panthers 76 yards in just 5 plays and that cut the Boyd-Buchanan lead to 22-7. The Bucs countered with their longest drive of the night as Cooper Hodge methodically led the Bucs 63 yards in 8 plays, with Isiah Dillard going the final 8 yards for the score and the Bucs led 29-7 with 6:00 left.
A little trickery led to Brainerd's next score. The Panthers had a 4th and long from their own 21 yard line, and Tevin Walker tossed a 79 yard TD pass to Dajuanta Ross on a fake punt as Brainerd refused to quit. The Bucs iced it with a 57 yard drive in just 5 plays as Cooper Hodge scored on an 8 yard romp and Boyd-Buchanan improved to 3-0 with a 36-14 win. The Bucs are also 1-0 in region 3-2A play and will be off next week before playing at Tyner.
Cooper Hodge rushed for 103 yards for Boyd-Buchanan while E.J. Mathews rushed for 122 yards. The Bucs outgained Brainerd on the ground 260 to 91 yards, but again, the big story was field position as on their first eleven possessions Brainerd averaged beginning on their own 23 yard line, while the Bucs averaged beginning on the Brainerd 43 yard line.
In addition to Boyd-Buchanan being off next week, Brainerd also takes the week off before playing at powerful Marion County on September 18th.