It’s been a long, long time since the Boyd Buchanan Buccaneers took a beating like the one they took on Friday at David L. Boyd Field in the semifinal round of the D-II-AA football playoffs.
Old timers probably don’t want to remember it, but the Bucs got whipped 95-3 by Tyner many years ago. Things have changed a little bit for the guys in blue, but a really good season that started with 11 straight wins came to a screeching halt when the Battle Ground Academy Wildcats scored 49 unanswered points en route to a 49-3 victory.
Apparently, some personal comments from a Boyd Buchanan source said that they didn’t think BGA was a very physical football team. Well, just for the record, they were much more physical and worse as they totally dominated a game that many thought might be a whole lot closer than it turned out to be.
BGA coach Bobby Bentley said first thing that those comments only served as a motivating factor for his team as they won their eighth straight game and improved to 12-1 for the season.
“Those guys really helped motivate us as they said we didn’t have a very physical football team. That just served as a little extra incentive, but I’m so proud of these kids as they’ve done all we asked from the very beginning,” he said before talking to his team.
“We are a fast and physical football team. We practice that way and we play that way,” he added.
Boyd Buchanan coach Gary Rankin has been on the other side of games like this when his Alcoa teams were so dominant, but he was quick to say that his team never had a chance in this one.
“This team has lost only three games in the past three years, so this may have been a little bit of a shock for us,” he began.
“We were never in the game as they were much bigger, faster and more physical than we were. This was not a fluke as they totally dominated in every aspect of the game,” Rankin added.
The Wildcats received the opening kickoff where quarterback Kaedyn Marable got sacked for a 12-yard loss by K’leb Crowder on the first play. Marable was able to gain nine yards on the second play, but his first pass on the third play was intercepted by Davie Hoover.
The Bucs then lost 12 yards on the first two plays before Max Bates hooked up with Kamerin Williams for a 14-yard pass play, but it wasn’t enough for a first down, leading to a 28-yard field goal by Lukas Goins with 8:43 left in the first quarter.
That was about the last thing the home folks had to cheer about as BGA just totally dominated on both sides of the ball.
Marable had a great game, despite the negative start, as he finished by completing 16 of 23 passes for 335 yards as his team had 474 yards for the game.
Defensively, the Wildcats were just as effective as Boyd Buchanan was limited to just 38 total yards, including just nine in the second half when a running clock was in order almost from the start.
Sophomore wide receiver Max Curry had a great game with four catches for 165 yards and three touchdowns, all coming in the first half when that 3-0 lead for the Bucs turned into a 28-3 disadvantage.
The Buccaneers got the second half kickoff and started on their 20 after a touchback, but matters went from bad to worse when Max Bates threw an interception on the first play and it was returned some 25 yards for a touchdown by Evan Kellum.
The second half didn’t take long with the running clock, but the Wildcats were still able to score two more TDs for the final margin of 46 points.
Marable was the leading rusher for BGA with 77 yards on nine carries while Curry was the leading receiver with his 165 yards. Maddox Porter also had five catches for 80 yards and a TD while Fletcher Field had three grabs for another 18 yards and one score.
BGA finished the game with 474 total yards and 15 first downs, including 139 yards on the ground and another 335 through the air.
Boyd Buchanan had by far their poorest performance of the season offensively as they finished with 38 total yards, including 21 on the ground and 17 more through the air.
David Yancey III was the leading rusher with 13 yards on six trips while Bates had a dozen yards on three attempts. Williams was the leading receiver for the Buccaneers with his 14 yards on one catch.
Boyd Buchanan senior David Green had a tough game as well as he was limited to just five yards on eight carries.
The Wildcats will now face Franklin Road Academy for the state title at Finley Stadium on Thursday, Dec. 4 with an 11 a.m. kickoff. This is the same Panther squad that handed BGA its only loss by a 21-14 back on Sept. 26.
BATTLE GROUND ACADEMY 14 14 14 7 -- 49
BOYD BUCHANAN 3 0 0 0 -- 3
BOYD – Lukas Goins 28 goal, 8:43 left in first;
BGA – Max Curry 77 pass from Kaedyn Marable (Syrus Harr kick), 8:00 left in first;
BGA – Fletcher Fields 8 run (Harr kick), 3:12 left in first;
BGA – Curry 4 pass from Marable (Harr kick), 6:47 left in second;
BGA – Curry 74 pass from Marable (Harr kick), 4:25 left in second;
BGA – Evan Kellum 25 interception return (Harr kick), 11:52 left in third;
BGA – Maddox Porter 4 pass from Marable (Harr kick), 3:07 left in third;
BGA – Ethan Kellum 6 run (Walker Ford kick), 3:51 left in fourth.
TEAM STATS: BGA BOYD BUCHANAN
First downs 15 5
Rushes-Yards 21-139 25-21
Passing Yards 335 17
Total Yards 474 38
Passes (Comp-Att-Int) 16-23-1 3-11-2
Penalties-Yards 12-133 3-22
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-0
Punts-Average 1-47.0 5-28.2
INDIVIDUAL STATS:
BGA RUSHING: Kaedyn Marable – nine carries for 77 yards; Fletcher Fields – 5 for 29; Ethan Kellum – 3 for 17 and one TD;
BGA RECEIVING: Max Curry – four catches for 165 yards and three TDs; Maddox Porter – 5 for 80 with one TD; Fletcher Fields – 3 for 18 with one TD; Jayden Cannon – 3 for 59; Cates Kennedy – 2 for 25;
BGA PASSING: Kaedyn Marable – 10 completions in 16 attempts with four TDs and one interception.
BOYD BUCHANAN RUSHING: David Yancey III – six carries for 13 yards; Max Bates – 3 for 12; Justin McGoy – 3 for 6;
BOYD BUCHANAN RECEIVING: Kamerin Williams – one catch for 14 yards; David Yancey III – 2 for 3;
BOYD BUCHANAN PASSING: Max Bates – three of 11 for 17 yards and two interceptions.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)