BUCYRUS (Crawford County Now) — A season that began with optimism continued to sink into disappointment for Bucyrus Friday night.
The Redmen committed four turnovers and struggled on both sides of the ball. Buckeye Central took advantage, building a 21-7 halftime lead then cruising to a 34-13 Northern 10 Athletic Conference victory.
The Bucks were coming off a 47-6 loss to Fairport Harding on Saturday, but head coach Jordan Phillips thought his team rebounded positively.
“They came in with the right energy,” Phillips said. “We had a bad week last week. We put that behind us well and put a good game together. We did this on a short week, an away game, and we were pretty banged up this week too.”
Bucyrus coach Jon Butchko credited the Bucks with taking the game to the Redmen.
“Buckeye Central came out and they were excited to play and we weren’t,” Butchko said. “That’s where the difference is. We’re tagging off on guys when they’re tackling guys. They’re finishing blocks and we weren’t.”
Buckeye Central (3-1, 1-0) took the opening kickoff and drove 55 yards on nine plays for the score to set the tone. Austin Bogner ran in from three yards for a 7-0 BC lead.
After the teams traded possessions by turning the ball over on downs, the Bucks got their first and probably key turnover, recovering a Redmen fumble at the Bucyrus 29.
It appeared that the Redmen defense would weather the storm, but on fourth-and-10 still from the 29, quarterback Jack Phillips connected on a 29-yard catch and run with Collin Perry, and it was 14-0.
“We didn’t give it away,” Phillips said. “Those extra possessions give you good field position. We’ve got a group of guys that has played a lot of varsity football. It really does come down to those small things and we did those tonight.”
One bright spot for Bucyrus (1-3, 0-1) came midway through the second quarter. The Redmen drove 80 yards on just seven plays for their first score.
Isaac Makeever hooked up with his brother Wyatt for a 15-yard strike and Cooper Kalb’s conversion kick cut the deficit to 14-7.
But BC answered with a 12-play, 63-yard march capped by a 16-yard Jack Phillips to Hunter Caudill pass to make it 21-7 with just 45 second left in the first half.
Bucyrus could never recover.
“We turned it over early,” Butchko said. “We had inconsistent and poorly executed drives early on, still a ton of drops, which has reared their ugly head lately.”
The Bucks pushed their advantage to 28-7 with 1:33 left in the third quarter on Perry’s second TD reception, 18 yards from Jack Phillips.
Bucyrus trimmed it to 28-13 on a one-yard run by Isaac Makeever with 6:12 left in the game, but Jack Phillips returned a desperation pass by Makeever for a 40-yard pick six with 29 seconds left to set the final score.
Makeever entered the game second in the N10 in passing yards, but the Bucks held him to 13 of 28 for 113 yards and two interceptions.
“The secondary did a very nice job,” Phillips said. “They make you guard every blade of grass, left to right. They spread you out. They cross guys. As a secondary player, that’s tough.”
Buckeye Central ran a balanced, efficient offense. Jack Phillips passed for 173 yards and the running game produced 96 more.
Jack’s brother, Alec, had five catches for 71 yards to lead the air game. Perry had three grabs for 50 yards and two scores. Bogner led the ground attack with 65 yards on 26 carries and a TD.
“We want to try to generate more explosive plays, but we were steady today,” Phillips said. “We took care of the ball well. This first four games, we’ve won the turnover battle. That’s huge.”
Isaac Makeever ran for 98 yards and a score for the Redmen. Wyatt Makeever and Dylan Coppler had 42 yards each receiving.
“We’re low on numbers just like they are,” Butchko said. “We’re banged up a little worse than they are. We lost a big piece (Demaris Munn-Page) in week one, lost a couple more pieces coming into this week, and probably lost a few pieces tonight for a while.”
“I’m very proud of our guys,” Phillips said. “(Bucyrus) is a solid football team. I know they’ve struggled a little bit lately, but they’re very disciplined. They’re just a very good football team.”
Next up for Bucyrus is Mohawk, a narrow 24-21 loser to league leading Colonel Crawford on Friday.
“(Mohawk) is rolling and we know what we’ve got coming in here,” Butchko said. “We’re trying not to look ahead, but we got a trade tape on them and we’re going to have our hands full. And who knows what our lineup is going to look like?
The Bucks have no picnic either as they will host Colonel Crawford on Friday.
Box score
Score by quarters
Buckeye Central 14 7 7 6 — 34
Bucyrus 0 7 0 6 — 13
Scoring summary
First quarter
BC — Austin Bogner 4 run (Jack Phillips kick), 7:56.
BC — Collin Perry 29 pass from Jack Phillips (Jack Phillips kick), 2:05.
Second quarter
B — Wyatt Makeever 15 pass from Isaac Makeever (Cooper Kalb kick), 7:32.
BC — Hunter Caudill 16 pass from Jack Phillips (Phillips kick), :45.
Third quarter
BC — Perry 18 pass from Jack Phillips (Phillips kick), 1:33.
Fourth quarter
B — Isaac Makeever 1 run (pass failed), 6:12.
B — Jack Phillips 40 interception return (run failed), :29.
Individual statistics
Passing
Buckeye Central: Jack Phillips 15-18-0 173; Bucyrus: Isaac Makeever 13-28-2 113.
Rushing
Buckeye Central: Austin Bogner 26-65, Jack Phillips 16-32, Alec Phillips 1-(-1); Bucyrus: Isaac Makeever 23-98, Isaac Makeever 3-6, Hayden Butcher 1-2.
Receiving
Buckeye Central: Alec Phillips 5-71, Collin Perry 3-50, Hunter Caudill 6-48, Donnie Fourtner 1-4; Bucyrus: Dylan Coppler 5-42, Wyatt Makeever 4-42, Christian Neal 3-24, Paten Deskins 1-5.
Team statistics
BC B
First downs 12 11
Rushing 43-96 27-106
Passes 15-18-0 13-18-2
Yards passing 173 113
Total yards 269 219
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-2
Punts-Avg 3-39.7 2-31.5
Penalties 7-50 6-55