TENNERTON – The Buckhannon-Upshur football Buccaneers couldn’t slow down the Bridgeport Indian rushing attack in their 2023 opener at home Friday night in a 55-13 setback.
The Bucs allowed 551 rushing yards to the Indians including six touchdown runs of over 40 yards in the loss.
Zach Rohrig led the Bridgeport ground attack with 175 yards on eight carries.
“They are a quick hitting team,” said Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Zach Davis. “We just have to shake this game off. We won’t be playing a team of their quality every week. There is a reason that program has 10 state titles. We aren’t where they are right now. Now we move on and hopefully play well against teams we match up better against.”
Despite the final score, the offense was able to move the ball some against the Bridgeport defense racking up 251 total yards getting 171 through the air and 80 on the ground.
Sophomore quarterback Dawson Tenney completed eight of his 14 passes for 171 yards with no interceptions.
“I truly think that Tenney has the potential to be one of the best ever at this position at the school,” stated Davis. “He played well for us.”
Ian Strader, the 6-4 senior wide receiver, went over the 100-yard mark catching three balls for 105 yards.
The Bucs scored both of their touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
Wyatt Morris put the Bucs on the scoreboard early in the final quarter with an eight-yard run with 11:03 on the fourth-quarter clock.
Morris led the all Buckhannon-Upshur rushers with 46 yards on 11 totes.
Daniel Hedrick had the Bucs’ second touchdown and the final score of the game on a five-yard run up the middle.
“Overall, I thought it was a better game against them than last year,” concluded Davis. “We were able to move the ball and get some first downs. I certainly think that we saw some things tonight that we can build upon next week.”
The Bucs will travel to Ripley next Friday. Both teams will be looking for their first win as the Vikings dropped a 48-0 road decision to Brooke Friday night.
The boxscore:
Bridgeport 20 21 7 7 – 55
Buckhannon-Upshur 0 0 0 13 – 13
Scoring
Bridgeport – Zach Rohrig, 78-yard run (Rohrig kick)
Bridgeport – Rohrig 16-yard run (kick failed)
Bridgeport – Jack Spatafore, 48-yard (Rohrig kick)
Bridgeport – Rohrig, 60-yard run (Rohrig kick)
Bridgeport – Josh Love 42-yard run (Rohrig kick)
Bridgeport – Cameron Martin, 3-yard run (Rohrig kick)
Bridgeport – Love, 73-yard run (Rohrig kick)
Buckhannon-Upshur – Wyatt Morris 8, yard run (Wyatt Mason kick)
Bridgeport – Alex Moses, 73-yard run (Rohrig kick)
Buckhannon-Upshur – Daniel Hedrick, 5-yard run (kick failed)
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs – Bridgeport: 19 (19 rushing, 0 passing, 0 penalty); Buckhannon-Upshur: 10 (3 rushing, 7 passing, 0 penalty).
Rushing yards – Bridgeport: 33-551; Buckhannon-Upshur: 34-80.
Passing yards – Bridgeport: 0; Buckhannon-Upshur: 171.
Total yards – Bridgeport: 551; Buckhannon-Upshur 251.
Passes – Bridgeport: 0-3-0; Buckhannon-Upshur: 8-14-0.
Penalties – Bridgeport: 6-55; Buckhannon-Upshur: 0-0.
Punts – Bridgeport:1-35.0; Buckhannon-Upshur: 2-29.0.
Fumbles – Bridgeport: 0; Buckhannon-Upshur: 3.
Fumbles lost – Bridgeport: 0; Buckhannon-Upshur: 2.
All-return yards – Bridgeport: 75; Buckhannon-Upshur: 62.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Bridgeport – Zach Rohrig 8-175 (3 touchdowns); Josh Love 2-115 (2 touchdowns); Alex Moses 5-96 (1 touchdown); Jack Spatafore 5-87 (1 touchdown); Tanner Hathaway 7-59; Timothy Jeffress 4-10; Cameron Martin 2-9 (1 touchdown). Totals 33-551 (8 touchdowns).
Buckhannon-Upshur – Wyatt Morris 11-46 (1 touchdown); Bryson Johnston 9-10; Luke Yardley 3-8; Dawson Tenney 7-8; Daniel Hedrick 2-7 (1 touchdown); Drake Davis 2-1. Totals 31-80 (2 touchdowns).
Passing
Bridgeport – Spatafore 0-for-3 for 0 yards, 0 touchdowns, 0 interceptions.
Buckhannon-Upshur – Tenney 8-for-14 for 171 yards, 0 touchdowns, 0 interceptions.
Receiving
Bridgeport – None
Buckhannon-Upshur – Ian Strader 3-105; Johnston 2-32; Carter Zuliani 1-14; Cooper Antolini 1-12; Luke Yardley 1-8. Totals 8-171.
