BUCYRUS (Crawford County Now) — It wasn’t classic. But it was historic.
Bucyrus did something it hadn’t done since 1997 against Wynford on the football field — win.
The Redmen used a stellar defensive effort to squeak by the Royals, 8-7, in the 50th meeting of these backyard rivals in their battle for the Copper Kettle. It snapped an impressive 28-game winning streak by Wynford in the series.
“It feels like a tremendous burden has been lifted from myself, the school, the whole community,” Bucyrus coach Jon Butchko said. “We did something people once didn’t think was possible.”
It didn’t come easy. The Royals have treated Kettle as their own possession for nearly three decades and weren’t planning to return it.
The tone was set early on. As Homecoming Queen Reese Garvin looked on, the teams slugged it out to a scoreless first half, with King Hayden Ginn participating in the fray.
The Redmen zeroed in on containing explosive Wynford quarterback Braylon Wells and they were successful. The hosts held Wells to 11 yards rushing and 14 passing in the first half.
“The game plan was a little bit different. I’m sure it took them some time to adjust,” Butchko said. “He’s a heck of a ball player. He really is. He and (Bucyrus quarterback) Isaac (Makeever) are really good friends and compete as athletes with one another. You saw two great sophomores going at it.”
On the other side, Wynford (2-6, 1-5 N10) keyed on Makeever as well, limiting him to 39 yards passing and 39 more rushing in the first half.
The game came down to two scoring plays, with the Royals striking first.
The visitors mounted a 12-play, 69-yard march late in the third quarter. A 30-yard run by Wells highlighted the drive and he capped it with a 3-yard run. Victor Arellano’s kick made it 7-0 Wynford with 43 seconds left in the third.
Bucyrus (4-4, 3-3) answered early in the fourth quarter with a nearly identical 10-play, 65-yard drive. Isaac Makeever carried it seven times including the final five yards for the score, with 8:30 left in the game.
Butchko, the riverboat gambler, decided to try for the lead rather than a tie on the conversion.
“We knew we were going for two,” Butchko said. “Coop (kicker Cooper Kalb) being hurt was just a small part of the equation. (Isaac) does so many good things I run out of things to say and he’s not even 16 years old yet. He plays like a man sometimes.”
Makeever didn’t disappoint his coach, taking the snap, running right, and knifing into the end zone for the lead and what proved to be the ultimate game-winner.
The two-point conversion attempt was reminiscent of the last one-point game in the rivalry. The Redmen went for 2 late to win it in 2013 but came up short when the run attempt failed in a 41-40 loss.
“I’m well aware of that bit of history. I used to teach history when I was in the classroom,” Butchko quipped. “We just said, ‘We’re going to dance with who brought us.’ We made one little adjustment. You put (linebacker Hayden) Butcher over there, you put (Ben) Atwood over there, you put Wyatt Makeever over there — three really, really tough dudes — and a really tough dude carrying the ball and he found the goal line.”
However, with over eight minutes left, Wynford had several chances to retake the lead.
The Royals drove to the Redmen 19 yard line and later to the 22 yard line, missing field goals of 36 and 32 yards.
“Field goal, dropped pass for a touchdown basically,” Wynford coach Andy Amlin said. “We had every opportunity to win and we didn’t do it.”
The game was marred by a flurry of penalty flags. Bucyrus was assessed 18 for an eye-popping 180 yards. Wynford was whistled six times for 70 yards.
After the second missed Royals field goal, the Redmen looked to seal the win. Isaac Makeever broke loose for a 50-yard run to the Wynford 35. A face-mask penalty took it to the 20.
“I was thinking, ‘This is what my life is for, right here,’” Makeever said of the run. “I’ve dedicated everything to be here. We’ve been here since April, working hard. Everybody has together. And we want to live this moment right here. This is what we worked for.”
Two running plays used up Wynford’s timeouts. With the clock running under a minute, Bucyrus needed to just kneel on third down and let the clock run out. However, a celebration penalty moved it back 15 yards and stopped the clock.
The Redmen were forced to punt. Wells picked it up near the 20 and went right. The speedster appeared to be racing down the sideline, but was bumped out of bounds by lineman Carson Witten, who finished with 16 tackles on the night.
The Royals still had time for three attempts at the end zone — or even getting to field goal range again — and were aided by a pass interference call. But a desperation pass with time running out was intercepted by Atwood.
“We almost had it go the wrong way tonight,” Butchko said. “The biggest playmaker in the stadium picks up a punt and about runs the thing back. Then we got a questionable pass interference call in a game-deciding play, two guys going for the ball. Little Benny Atwood makes another big play. That dude keeps coming up aces.”
The final stats were very close as the final score would indicate. The Royals finished with 234 yards of total offense to 215 for the Redmen.
Wells ran for 76 yards on 21 carries for Wynford. Gage Massey had 41 on eight tries, and Deegan Lutz added 35 on 12 attempts.
The bulk of the Bucyrus offense was Isaac Makeever, who ran for 158 yards on 28 carries. He also threw for 44 yards.
“They didn’t make mistakes like we did,” Amlin said. “And that’s who wins football games, the team that makes less mistakes.”
Butchko summarized the enormity of ending the 28-year drought.
“This win should feel great for everybody that lives in Bucyrus, for everybody that’s ever worn a (Bucyrus) jersey, for everybody’s who’s ever gone to school here.”
“It means a lot. People better than us have tried and they couldn’t do it,” Isaac Makeever said. “We brought it together tonight.”
Box score
Score by quarters
Wynford 0 0 7 0 — 7
Bucyrus 0 0 0 8 — 8
Scoring summary
Third quarter
W — Braylon Wells 3 run (Victor Arellano kick), :43.
Fourth quarter
B — Isaac Makeever (Isaac Makeever run), 8:30.
Individual statistics
Passing
Wynford: Braylon Wells 6-12-1 77, Gage Massey 1-1-0 5; Bucyrus: Isaac Makeever 3-10-0 44.
Rushing
Wynford: Braylon Wells 21-76, Gage Massey 8-41, Deegan Lutz 12-35; Bucyrus: Isaac Makeever 28-158, Wyatt Makeever 5-13.
Receiving
Wynford: Gage Massey 3-57, Gavin Koehler 1-12, Eli Cooper 1-9, Braylon Wells 1-5, Deegan Lutz 1-(-1); Bucyrus: Charlie Randall 1-23, Cooper Kalb 1-16, Da’Shawn Cosey 1-5.
Team statistics
W B
First downs 13 9
Rushing 41-152 33-171
Passes 7-13-1 3-10-0
Yards passing 82 44
Total yards 234 215
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Punts-Avg 3-25.7 7-28.3
Penalties 6-70 18-180