NEW WASHINGTON — The streak is over! And the post-game celebration was worthy of winning a league title.
Buckeye Central’s football team had lost 35 straight games, dating back to October 21,2016 — a 34-6 home loss to Colonel Crawford.
That all came to an end Friday night with the Bucks’ impressive 54-10 victory over Bucyrus — ironically, the last team Buckeye Central beat before the streak started.
“All the credit goes to those kids,” jubilant second-year Buckeye Central coach Chad Jensen said. “They work so hard, they bought in. We took over last year, they bought in. It hasn’t been easy, but they do everything we ask them to do.”
The Bucks ended the streak in style. They piled up 503 yards of total offense — 402 yards rushing on 54 carries and 101 passing — to blow open a relatively close game in the third quarter.
Kolin Rowlinson led the way with 187 yards and a touchdown, while Mason Brown and Eli Smith each scored twice on the ground in the onslaught.
“They’ve been on the opposite end of it for a long time,” Bucyrus coach Tim Plumley said of the Bucks. “You could tell they were ready to play. It was a release of a lot of energy.”
Buckeye Central (1-3) got on the board first on an 8-yard run by Smith midway through the first quarter. He also caught the conversion pass from Brady Kerschner for an 8-0 lead.
Owen Diesch recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for a safety in the second quarter to make it 10-0 and Smith capped the ensuing possession with a 10-yard run to put the Bucks up, 18-0.
Bucyrus (0-4) responded. On a third-and-16 from the 37 of the Redmen, freshman quarterback Malachi Bayless found Randy Banks down the left sideline for a 63-yard scoring strike to cut the deficit to 18-7.
The Bucks came back with a two-yard run from Kerschner to tack on a score before intermission and the hosts had a 24-7 lead. BC already had 215 yards rushing at halftime.
“I’ve been around this business a long time and I know that nothing’s for granted until the end,” Jensen said. “We kept them grounded at halftime. We’re up 24-7, but we kept them grounded and they listened.”
The Redmen got a stop on Buckeye Central’s first possession of the second half and then drove inside the Bucks’ 10-yard line before settling for a 26-yard Ethan Huff field goal to make it 24-10. It was glimpse of what Jensen and his staff had cautioned at halftime.
As the coach said afterward, the team listened. The Bucks used an eight-play, 59-yard march which concluded on a 29-yard Kerschner-to-Zach Seiler hookup for six to push the lead to 32-10.
“I think kids can play with emotions in check up to two scores down,” Plumley said. “If it gets more than two scores, it’s tough for high school kids to withstand that.”
The first-year Bucyrus coach was right. Buckeye Central scored once more in the third quarter on Smith’s 9-yard run and got 4-yard scoring runs from Rowlinson and Brown to set the final score.
“They have athletes and we were very concerned about them,” Jensen said. “But our kids answered the bell. They played four quarters. They played their hearts out.”
Brown seconded Rowlinson with 123 yards rushing on 11 carries and two scored. Smith added 49 yards on 10 tries and two TDs.
Kerschner was three for five passing for 46 yards and a score. Aiden McDougal completed one pass for 55 yards. Seiler had two catches for 84 yards and a touchdown.
Bayless was 10 for 25 passing for 116 yards, two interceptions and a score to lead the Redmen. Banks grabbed four balls for 84 yards and a touchdown. Eddie Dagher ran for 78 yards on 14 carries.
“They didn’t do anything we didn’t expect,” Plumley said. “They’re big up front. We changed our front a little bit at halftime. Then they went to an unbalanced line. It was a little cat and mouse.
“In the first half, it was about what they did,” Plumley added. “In the second half, we had to start throwing a lot and made some turnovers.”
“Our line and our backs and out quarterbacks and everybody just played their hearts out,” Jensen said. “Our defense played great, bend but don’t break. We gave up a little bit, but we didn’t break.
“When you haven’t won in four years, they deserve it,” Jensen continued. “They’ve never given up, they’ve never had a bad week of practice, they came to work every day. The kids are excited and I’m really proud of them.”
Box score
Scoring summary
First quarter
BC — Mason Brown 8 run (Brown pass from Brady Kerschner), 6:06.
Second quarter
BC — Owen Diesch recovers block punt in end zone, 6:15.
BC — Eli Smith 10 run (Kerschner run), 5:18.
B — Randy Banks 63 pass from Malachi Bayless (Ethan Huff kick), 4:11.
BC — Kerschner 2 run (run failed), 1:03.
Third quarter
B — Huff 26 field goal, 8:02.
BC — Zach Seiler 29 pass from Kerschner (Damian Dean pass from Kerschner), 3:28.
BC — Smith 9 run (pass failed), 1:00.
Fourth quarter
BC — Kolin Rowlinson 4 run (Diesch pass from Kerschner), 11:53.
BC — Brown 4 run (Brown run), 7:16.
Individual statistics
Passing
Bucyrus: Malachi Bayless 10-25-2 116. Buckeye Central: Brady Kerschner 3-5-0 46; Aiden McDougal 1-1-0 55.
Rushing
Bucyrus: Eddie Dagher 14-78, Randy Banks 3-12, Kam Lewis 1-4, Bayless 1-1, Blayne Stewart-Barto 5-(-1).
Buckeye Central: Kolin Rowlinson 20-187, Mason Brown 11-123, Eli Smith 10-49, Kerschner 7-22, McDougal 2-12, Chayde Wagner 4-9.
Receiving
Bucyrus: Banks 4-84, Dagher 3-16, Lane Carter 1-10, Joe Rager 1-(-6). Buckeye Central: Zach Seiler 2-84, Damian Dean 1-9, Brown 1-8.
Team statistics
B BC
First downs 20 10
Rushing 24-94 54-402
Passes 10-25-2 4-6-0
Yards passing 116 101
Total yards 210 503
Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-1
Punts-Avg 2-40.5 0-0
Penalties 7-40 6-65