NEW WASHINGTON — Buckeye Central quarterback Jack Phillips is his team’s Swiss Army knife.
The junior signal caller passed for 148 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for 199 yards and a score, kicked four extra points, and ran in another conversion.
Oh, by the way, he kicks off, punts, and plays defense.
All of this helped lead to a 42-24 win for the Bucks over visiting Bucyrus in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
“He really ran well,” Buckeye Central coach Jordan Phillips said of Jack. “But, you know, it was really an unselfish performance by a lot of guys. That’s what was working. When you can run the quarterback, you have an extra blocker. Austin Bogner did a good job of lead blocking.”
Coach Phillips also credited his offensive line for carrying out the game plan.
“(Jack Phillips) executes what they do very well,” Bucyrus coach Jon Butchko said. “He’s a tough guy, he’s a gamer. We think a lot of him. He had a big night, and they go as he goes.”
Buckeye Central (2-2, 1-0 N10) put the Redmen in a hole early, something that has plagued Bucyrus (0-4, 0-1) going back to last season.
The Bucks took possession at midfield to start the game and needed just four plays to find the end zone. Jack Phillips finished the drive with a 7-yard run to make it 6-0.
After four plays, the Redmen punted. Phillips then connected with Caydin Jarvis for 72 yards down the left sideline and it was 13-0 Bucks after five offensive plays and less than three minutes off the clock.
“We feel like we’ve got some really nice players out there (at receiver) and a quarterback that can throw it,” Coach Phillips said. “The last couple of weeks it’s been more win it on the ground and we’re comfortable with that. But we’re comfortable throwing too if we have to.”
Buckeye Central made it 20-0 later in the first period. After stopping a promising Bucyrus drive on downs at their own 41, the Bucks went 59 yards in eight plays. Jack Phillips capped it with a 6-yard pass to Hunter Caudill.
“Buckeye Central made plays and we didn’t,” Butchko said. “Their quarterback is tough. We knew he was tough all week. He played like a leader; he played like a champion.”
Bucyrus stopped the bleeding when BC muffed a punt and the Redmen recovered it at the Buckeye Central 35. After a penalty, Bucyrus went 40 yards in five plays. Demaris Munn-Page ran in from seven yards and caught the conversion pass from Dylan Coppler to cut the deficit to 20-8.
Munn-Page rushed for 100 yards on 19 carries despite being the focal point of the Bucks’ defense.
“We felt like we had to limit the explosives — make them drive the field,” Coach Phillips said. “(Munn-Page) is quick, he’s athletic. Get him on the ground and go to the next play. Our kids were able to make those tackles in space.”
Munn-Page’s longest run from scrimmage was 21 yards and he had only three others over 10. He did have six catches for another 55 yards.
Bucyrus got back into the game when they forced a fumble at their own 5-yard line, then engineered an impressive eight play, 95-yard drive to score with just 42 seconds left in the half. Coppler hit Munn-Page from nine yards out to make it 20-16 at halftime.
The two miscues that led to the Redmen touchdowns are a concern for the Bucks.
“We’ve got to finish drives better. We can’t give away freebies like that,” Coach Phillips said.
With Bucyrus receiving the second half kickoff, the momentum had definitely swung in the Redmen’s favor. But BC forced a 3-and-out. Later in the third period, the Bucks drove 72 yards for a score, which came on a 10-yard pass from Jack Phillips to his twin brother Alec, for a 27-16 lead.
“That’s what we saw last year as well,” Butchko said. “We’d get to the point where we were going to push somebody off the cliff and put some distance between them and we just didn’t.”
Corbin Bloomfield slammed the door on a Redmen comeback when he took an interception 60 yards for a score. Bogner added a touchdown with an 11-yard run early in the fourth quarter, to make it 42-16.
Bucyrus got a six-yard scoring run from Coppler to set the final score.
Coppler finished by completing 13 of 29 passes for 135 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 44 yards and a score. DeShawn Cosey caught three passes for 46 yards.
Jarvis had one catch for 72 yards and a score. Alec Phillips grabbed four balls for 30 yards and a TD.
It was a sloppy game featuring a combined five turnovers and each team had over 100 yards in penalties.
“I’m not really allowed to comment on why it was like that,” Butchko intoned.
“Our kids did a really nice job of refocusing at halftime,” Coach Phillips said. “I felt like we made some good adjustments there in the locker room.
“A thing that’s scary about (Bucyrus) is they onside kick every kick,” he added. “They can really swing momentum quickly.”
“We missed a ton of verticals,” Butchko said. “That’s been a staple of what we do offensively. We’ve leaned on a dependable, sturdy running game through the first three games and tonight we had things in the run game. It only works if you can be effective in both facets.
“We’re getting there,” he continued. “We play a lot of young guys. We have one senior (Jake Green). These aren’t excuses, those are just facts. These young guys sometimes make young guy mistakes.”
Bucyrus travels to Mohawk next Friday, while Buckeye Central goes down Rt. 602 to take on Colonel Crawford.
Box score
Score by quarters
Bucyrus 8 8 0 8 — 24
Buckeye Central 20 0 14 8 — 42
Scoring summary
First quarter
BC — Jack Phillips 9 run (kick failed), 11:30.
BC — Caydin Jarvis 72 pass from Jack Phillips, (Jack Phillips kick), 9:45.
BC — Hunter Caudill 6 pass from Jack Phillips, (Jack Phillips kick), 3:28.
B — Demaris Munn-Page 7 run (Munn-Page pass from Dylan Coppler), :33.
Second quarter
B — Munn-Page 9 pass from Coppler (Munn-Page run), :42.
Third quarter
BC — Alec Phillips 10 pass from Jack Phillips (Jack Phillips kick), 3:21.
BC — Corbin Bloomfield 60 interception return (Jack Phillips kick), 3:02.
Fourth quarter
BC — Austin Bogner 11 run (Jack Phillips run), 11:16.
B — Coppler 6 run (Coppler run), 8:58.
Individual statistics
Passing
Bucyrus: Dylan Coppler 13-29-1 135; Buckeye Central: Jack Phillips 14-19-1 148.
Rushing
Bucyrus: Demaris Munn-Page 19-100, Dylan Coppler 11-44; Buckeye Central: Jack Phillips 26-199, Austin Bogner 13-26, Corbin Bloomfield 2-9, Alec Phillips 1-3, Tye Craft 3-0.
Receiving
Bucyrus: Demaris Munn-Page 6-55, DeShawn Cosey 3-46, Christian Neal 2-19, Jake Green 2-15; Buckeye Central: Caydin Jarvis 1-72, Alec Phillip 4-30, Hunter Caudill 4-21, Corbin Bloomfield 2-1.
Team statistics
B BC
First downs 16 17
Rushing 30-144 45-237
Passes 13-29-1 14-19-1
Yards passing 135 148
Total yards 279 385
Fumbles-lost 2-1 3-2
Punts-Avg 5-32.6 2-38.5
Penalties 13-111 13-109