NORTH BALTIMORE (Crawford County Now) — When a team is in the midst of a significant losing streak, anything that can go wrong probably will.

With a solid returning core, and numbers up slightly, the Bucyrus football team anticipated a quick start to the season.

On the second play of the opening game at North Baltimore, senior running back Demaris Munn-Page went down with a knee injury and did not return.

Despite a valiant effort, the Redmen were not able to overcome the loss of Munn-Page in falling to the host Tigers, 36-28.

Bucyrus coach Jon Butchko refused to use the loss of his star running back as an excuse but did acknowledge the chain reaction it caused.

“He’s an important piece of the puzzle and he just couldn’t go,” Butchko said of his Player of the Year candidate. “We lost a very important piece of the puzzle early on. There’s no excuses. We saw some pretty gritty performances out of some guys, but that’s a lot of fire power missing.”

Among those with “gritty” performances was freshman Isaac Makeever, making his varsity debut at quarterback. Makeever completed 14 of 29 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 88 more and two scores.

Makeever and the Redmen got off to a quick start, driving 57 yards on 14 plays on the opening possession. A Makeever-to-Christian Neal 10-yard pass capped the drive and freshman Cooper Kalb’s first varsity extra point made it 7-0 Bucyrus.

The Tigers answered with a 59-yard drive, all on the ground. Quarterback Luke Long ran the final eight yards for the score. The missed PAT left the Redmen with a 7-6 lead, but the tone was set for the night.

“They’re a lot like us,” Butchko said of North Baltimore. “They’re a gritty bunch, a bunch that does some things in the spread. They position guys well; they play to their strengths well and that’s all we try to do.”

A three-pronged attack led by Long at quarterback, running back Brody Walter, and wideout Cooper Clark did the brunt of the offensive damage.

Walter rushed for 106 yards on 26 carries, including a score. Long ran for 92 more on 16 tries and two TDs. He threw for 235 yards, 210 of which were to Clark on 13 catches good for two touchdowns.

Bucyrus quickly expanded its lead in three plays, with Makeever finding Da’Shawn Cosey for a 49-yard score to make it 14-6.

Sixteen unanswered points over the rest of the half allowed the Tigers to build a 22-14 lead at intermission. Long had a six-yard run, a safety on a punt snap out of the end zone resulted in two more and Long connected with Clark on a 13-yard scoring strike.

“Our kids’ effort was improved. If you were here tonight, you saw that,” Butchko said. “But our attention to detail at times… And that is going to happen with a young and inexperienced group.”

The Redmen got it back to within two at 22-20 with the only score in the third quarter on a 1-yard run by Makeever. But they were never able to tie the game or retake the lead.

The teams traded touchdowns in the fourth quarter, leaving Bucyrus still within two points, 30-28. But Walter ran 25 yards for a score with 3:10 left in the game to seal it for North Baltimore.

The absence of Munn-Page had a pyramid effect according to the coach.

“It changes a lot of things,” Butchko said. “It changes the personnel groupings that are available. It changes anything in short yardage.”

Neal had four catches for 70 yards. Cosey had on reception for 49 yards, and Wyatt Makeever grabbed five balls for 43 yards. Dylan Coppler had two interceptions.

The Redmen will have to wait another week to halt their losing skein, something Butchko doesn’t like to talk about, but which is the elephant in the room.

“It looms large. It’s a heavy weight,” Butchko said. “And until we see one through from beginning to end, it’s going to continue to get heavier.”

Next up is Triad at home on Friday. The coach said Munn-Page’s injury can’t affect how the team gets ready.

“That can’t affect your level of preparation. It can’t affect the way you attend to the things you attend to,” Butchko said. “It’s just a tough break and I’m heartbroken and sick for the kids. They did everything we asked them to do.”

Box score

Score by quarters

Bucyrus                    14          0           6          8 — 28

North Baltimore       6        16           0        14 — 36

Scoring summary

First quarter

B — Christian Neal 10 pass from Isaac Makeever, (Cooper Kalb kick), 5:39.

NB — Luke Long 8 run (kick failed), 3:40.

B — Da’Shawn Cosey 49 pass from Isaac Makeever (Kalb kick), 2:55.

Second quarter

NB— Long 6 run (Brody Walter run), 11:57.

NB — Safety, punt snap out of the end zone, 5:51.

NB — Cooper Clark 13 pass from Long (pass failed), 2:44.

Third quarter

B — Isaac Makeever 1 run (pass failed), 2:33.

Fourth quarter

NB — Clark 48 pass from Long (Long run), 9:44.

B — Isaac Makeever 4 run (Wyatt Makeever pass from Isaac Makeever), 7:33.

NB — Brody Walter 25 run (run failed), 3:10.

Individual statistics

Passing

Bucyrus: Isaac Makeever 14-29-2 198; North Baltimore: Luke Long 18-30-2 235.

Rushing

Bucyrus: Isaac Makeever 14-88, Wyatt Makeever 11-11, Demaris Munn-Page 1-8; North Baltimore: Brody Walter 26-106, Luke Long 16-92, Emmitt Heldberg 1-1, Quintin Contreras 1-0, Cooper Clark 1-(-1).

Receiving

Bucyrus: Christian Neal 4-70, Da’Shawn Cosey 1-49, Wyatt Makeever 5-43, Paten Deskins 2-25, Dylan Coppler 2-11.

Team statistics

B                NB

First downs                     11               18

Rushing                       26-107        45-198

Passes                          14-29-2       18-30-2

Yards passing                 198             235

Total yards                      305             433

Fumbles-lost                   0-0              3-0

Punts-Avg                    2-29.0        3-27.7

Penalties                         5-40           9-50