BUCYRUS — Both Bucyrus and Buckeye Central have struggled this season.

Buckeye Central seemed to have the momentum Friday when the teams went head-to-head. The Bucks played well against Upper Sandusky last week until stumbling at the end and the Redmen were thumped by Carey.

However, Bucyrus used the energy from the Homecoming crowd to overcome some early mistakes to blank the Bucks, 35-0, in their Northern 10 Athletic Conference game.

“I’m not surprised at all,” Buckeye Central coach Chad Jensen said of the Redmen’s ability, not only to run the ball, but stop the Bucks’ running game. “In their five losses, the record of the teams they got beat by is 24-6 and three of those losses were Wynford. I told our kids all week, ‘Don’t be fooled by Bucyrus’ record.’ The teams they have played are outstanding.”

Bucyrus coach Tim Plumley agreed with Jensen’s assessment.

“We went through a gauntlet,” Plumley said. “The previous five teams we played were 24-6. We took our lumps, but I really didn’t think we were as bad as some of the scores were.”

The tone for the night was set on the first play from scrimmage. Eddie Dagher swept right end and raced 72 yards through the Buckeye Central defense for a touchdown. But then it got frustrating on offense for Bucyrus (2-5, 1-3 N10).

As Homecoming Queen Karmyn Blizzard and her court looked on in dismay, the Redmen had three touchdowns negated by penalties, including a punt return.

They did manage to squeeze out another score, with no flags, on a 16-yard run by Randy Banks to take a 14-0 lead to the locker room at halftime.

“It started off bad right away,” Jensen said. “We battled there for a while. We told the kids at halftime we were lucky it was 14-0. It could have been 40.”

Buckeye Central (2-5, 0-4) had the chance to seize the momentum when they received the second-half kickoff. But as it had done in the first half, the Bucyrus defense rose to the occasion.

On the Bucks’ first two possessions, the Redmen ‘D’ intercepted a pass and forced a three-and-out. The offense took advantage to pad the lead, with a 10-play, 51-yard drive. Dagher capped it with a one-yard run to give Bucyrus a 21-0 lead.

“If we came out in (in the second half) and they score and it’s 14-7, the emotion of the game is much different,” Plumley said. “Once we got to 21-0, the kids came over and said, ‘We can run the ball,’ and that’s not really our MO. I would like it to be. It’s less risky.”

And run the ball they did. The Redmen rushed for 311 yards on 36 carries and scored four of their five touchdowns. And the defense continued to throttle the Buckeye Central offense, limiting the Bucks to 59 yards net — 32 on the ground.

“We were not able to get any rhythm,” Jensen said. “We’d get a couple of positive plays and then we’d shoot ourselves in the foot. I think there were some things we could have done offensively, but we just couldn’t get into a rhythm.”

Bucyrus tacked on two more scores in the fourth quarter on an 11-yard run by Dagher and a 55-yard return of a fumble by Grady Jackson. Kicker Ethan Huff was a perfect five-for-five on extra point tries.

Dagher had a career night, finishing with 279 yards rushing on 27 carries and three touchdowns.

“My performance tonight was not on me,” Dagher said. “My line did their part. I would never get a single yard if the line did not block like they did.

“This was really big for us,” Dagher added. “It gives us a big push for next week and actually for the rest of the season.”

“(Eddie) had 100 yards against Wynford. He had 100 yards against Seneca East,” Plumley said. “He’s been coming on, coming into his own, gaining confidence. Eddie’s a good kid. He is very coachable and fun to be around.”

Malachi Bayless threw for 127 yards, completing 10 of 21 passes with two interceptions. Jackson had five catches for 83 yards and Mike Wise had one for 24 yards.

Derex Dean was five of 16 for 27 yards and one interception for Buckeye Central. Manny Mullins caught three balls for 22 yards and rushed for 38 yards on 11 carries.

“We’re playing with 22 healthy bodies,” Jensen said. “That’s all we have. We’re doing the best we can. We’re behind the 8 ball to start with. Every team we play had 50-60 kids and we have 22 bodies, so it’s tough for us.”

Plumley praised his defense as a unit, but highlighted Gabe Higginbotham in particular, who at times looked like he was part of the Buckeye Central backfield.

“Gabe kind of predicted (he would have a good game),” Plumley said. “Gabe’s a fun kid too and has a lot of energy. He’s a better athlete than a lot of people know. He was confident coming into the game.”

Box score

Score by quarters

Buckeye Central      0          0          0         0   —   0

Bucyrus                     7          7         14         7   — 35

Scoring summary

First quarter

B — Eddie Dagher 72 run (Ethan Huff kick), 11:43.

Second quarter

B — Randy Banks 16 run (Huff kick), 4:15.

Third quarter

B — Dagher 1 run (Huff kick), 2:04.

B — Dagher 11 run (Huff kick), :54.

Fourth quarter

B — Randy Jackson 55 fumble return (Huff kick), :17.

Individual statistics

Passing

Buckeye Central: Derex Dean 5-16-1 27, Stephen Sostakowski 0-1-0 0, Manny Mullins 0-1-0 0. Bucyrus: Malachi Bayless 10-21-2 127.

Rushing

Buckeye Central: Manny Mullins 11-38, Kolin Rowlinson 16-14, Derex Dean 3-(-20). Bucyrus: Eddie Dagher 27-279, Randy Banks 2-26, Blayne Stewart-Barto 4-1, Seth Clevenger 1-6, Malachi Bayless 2-(-1).

Receiving

Buckeye Central: Manny Mullins 3-22, Trevor Kirgis 1-4, Stephen Sostakowski 1-1. Bucyrus: Grady Jackson 5-83, Mike Wise 1-24, Javon Gallardo 1-10, Eddie Dagher 1-10, Randy Banks 1-1, Braxton Lewis 1-(-1).

Team statistics

BC                B

First downs               9                 13

Rushing                  30-32       36-311

Passes                    5-18-1        10-21-2

Yards passing          27              127

Total yards               59              438

Fumbles-lost            2-1             2-0

Punts-Avg               9-32.9        4-29.0

Penalties                   5-55           12-120