BUCYRUS, OH (MARION COUNTY NOW)—Chunk plays, a few turnovers and a powerful ground attack were the winning ingredients for Cardington in a 55-24 non-league win over Bucyrus here Friday night.
The visiting Pirates (2-1) got three touchdowns in the first nine minutes, including two big plays, in stopping Bucyrus’ one-game win streak.
Wyatt Denney and Josh Goers combined for 397 rushing yards and six touchdowns for Cardington.
“Denney’s a heck of a ball player. He broke our backs late in the game. He got them off to a fast start. But we started off and fell behind 20-0 off that Pick 6,” head coach Jon Butchko said. “The hole was too deep from that point on.”
The interception by linebacker Christopher Kinsey came after a pair of TD runs by Goers covering 10 and 65 yards.
“Their quarterback hurt us with his legs. We knew he was a threat to run,” Butchko said.
But Bucyrus got two second quarter scores on a Dylan Coppler 21-yard catch off a tipped pass from Issac Makeever, and a Makeever 3-yard run.
“We think we can accumulate yards and points quickly,” Butchko said. “That’s been kind of the MO of everything we’ve tried to do offensively, whether it’s by run or by pass,” Butchko said.
“We want to be efficient, and we weren’t real efficient tonight. We didn’t come in with a real clear picture of what we wanted to do tonight. They didn’t do anything to confuse us. They just did what they do very well.”
Denney finished with 252 yards and Goers 145 behind a big offensive line.
“They did a phenomenal job of taking away Wyatt in the first half. It seemed like every time he touched the ball there was five guys in his face. Bucyrus is so much improved from the past couple of years,” Pirates head coach Ryan Goetzman said.
“They played harder tonight. Kudos to them. They weren’t on the right side tonight, but the improvement is there. You can see it.”
Christian Neal caught a 44-yard pass from Isaac Makeever just 11 seconds into the second half. That cut the Pirates lead to 34-18 and Bucyrus had a dash of momentum.
But Cardington mounted a short drive and James Fiant’s 8-yard run followed closely by Denney’s 82-yard jaunt put the game out of reach.
Wyatt Makeever added the fourth Bucyrus touchdown on a 1-yard run with 3:02 left in the third quarter.
“It’s an extension of practice. Sometimes we don’t do things real crisp in practice or in pre-game. That infiltrated things tonight,” Butchko said.
Coming off a big win last week followed by a tough loss has the Redmen needing a reset.
“We’re gonna find out who we are here real fast,” he said. “I hope that wasn’t a one-off last week, I hope it wasn’t just something where we say — we get one and that’s it, we feel great — we hope to be competitive each and every week.”
Despite a short roster Butchko’s goal is for Bucyrus to compete each week.
“We don’t have a lot of depth, and the bulk of that roster is in the ninth and 10th grades,” he said.
“Maybe they didn’t know what to do coming off the heels of a win. Sometimes you have to coach things you’ve not dreamed of coaching. All but five players (had) never won a high school football game.”
Freshman QB Isaac Makeever and sophomore running back/linebacker Wyatt Makeever have made significant contributions this season.
“Both Makeevers have been great on both sides of the ball,” Butchko said.
“Isaac, I don’t know that many 14-year-olds are footed to man the offense and be the emotional rock of everyone around him. Our guys stop talking when a 14-year-old talks. Wyatt’s been no slouch either and has picked it up on offense. Cohen Chapman plays a bunch and he’s a freshman.
“We’ve just got to develop at the line of scrimmage. We have trouble defending the run. You have to get stingier on defense.”
Isaac hit on 16-of-26 pass attempts for 144 yards and two scores. Both added rushing touchdowns.
Next, Bucyrus (1-2) opens Northern 10 Athletic Conference play hosting Buckeye Central (2-0).
“Hopefully we pick it up in seven days when we get Buckeye Central, we’re just ready to play and give them our best shot.”
The Pirates host Fredericktown (3-0) to open the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference season.
“It’s a meat grinder. We start off with Fredericktown and there are no weeks off,” Goetzman said. “We have two final four teams (Northmor and Danville) in our league.”
He also credited the young Bucyrus team.
“The Makeever brothers are going to be a problem the next three years. They’re off our schedule now, and I told them before the game that these sophomores and freshmen are going to make some noise.”
Box score
Score by quarters
Cardington 20 14 21 0 — 55
Bucyrus 0 12 12 0 — 24
Scoring summary
First quarter
C — Josh Goers 10 run (pass failed), 9:18.
C —Goers 65 run (pass failed), 5:41.
C — Christopher Kinsey 85 interception return (Goers run), 3:01.
Second quarter
C — Wyatt Denney 20 run (run failed), 11:34.
B — Dylan Coppler 21 pass from Isaac Makeever (pass failed), 9:17.
C — Goers 25 run (Denney run), 6:43.
B — Isaac Makeever 3 run (pass failed), 3:54.
Third quarter
B — Christian Neal 44 pass from Isaac Makeever (run failed), 11:49.
C — James Fiant 8 run (run failed), 8:50.
B — Wyatt Makeever 1 run (run failed), 3:01.
C — Denney 52 run (Fiant kick), :08.
Individual statistics
Passing
Cardington: Josh Goers 3-7-1 52; Bucyrus: Isaac Makeever 17-27-2 169.
Rushing
Cardington: Wyatt Denney 23-252, Josh Goers 11-145, James Fiant 2-33, Bryce Hartley 4-23, Dillon Donkin 1-10, Laythan Ralston 1-(-3); Bucyrus: Wyatt Makeever 10-4, Isaac Makeever 17-14.
Receiving
Cardington: Dillon Donkin 1-20, Wyatt Denney 1-19, James Fiant 1-13; Bucyrus: Christian Neal 9-72, Dylan Coppler 3-44, Charlie Randall 1-25, Wyatt Makeever 3-21, Da’Shawn Cosey 1-7.
Team statistics
C B
First downs 12 13
Rushing 42-460 273-58
Passes 3-7-1 17-27-2
Yards passing 52 169
Total yards 512 227
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1
Punts-Avg 1-30.0 3-27.0
Penalties 11-74 7-75