But you still need to activate your account.
BANGOR – The Bucksport High football team is a work in progress, according to its coach, and on Monday night the Golden Bucks made progress – eventually.
Bucksport shook off four lost fumbles during the first half to pull away from John Bapst of Bangor 26-8 in an LTC Class C contest at Cameron Stadium.
Tailback Chris Maguire led the way, rushing for 155 yards and scoring three touchdowns, one on a pass interception.
The game actually began Saturday night, but was suspended with 7:27 left in the first quarter due to lightning.
When play resumed Monday, Bucksport dominated but had little to show for it in the first half thanks to a case of fumble-itis, including one that bounced out of the end zone and two others at the John Bapst 28- and 30-yard lines.
“It was a very frustrating first half,” said Bucksport coach Joel Sankey. “We’re very young, and we know we’re going to make mistakes, so you try to keep your patience as much as you can. When you get old like I am you lose your patience a lot, but we hung in there, and the kids came back really strong.”
Particularly strong after intermission was Maguire, who carried the ball 13 times for 81 yards in the third quarter alone.
“I told coach that I wanted the ball and I was going to make a play,” said Maguire. “I was ready to go.”
The 5-foot-10, 185-pound Maguire scored on a 2-yard run with 4:14 left in the period to give Bucksport a 12-8 lead. The score was set up by a 9-yard John Bapst punt after a low center snap, giving Bucksport the ball at the Crusaders 33.
The Golden Bucks padded their lead in the fourth quarter as Derek Fish and Maguire each returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown.
“We’re supposed to run until we hear ‘ball,’ and I just turned around and it was right there for me to grab it and run,” said Fish of his return from the right flat, which extended Bucksport’s lead to 20-8 with 7:47 left in the game.”
Bucksport (1-1) finished the night with 271 total yards, all on the ground, as sophomore Nate Warren added 68 yards on 13 carries for the Golden Bucks.
John Bapst (1-1) managed just 117 total yards against a Bucksport defense that was particularly effective against the pass, using its team speed to smother the Crusaders’ deep patterns and limit quarterback Charlie Merritt to a 5-for-22 evening for 44 yards.
“We have some fairly good athletes who play in the secondary,” said Sankey. “That’s one of the strengths of our team. We were hoping they’d throw the ball.”
Bucksport scored on its first possession after the game resumed, driving 65 yards in eight plays with Maguire scoring from 6 yards out with 4:13 left in the opening quarter.
John Bapst had little luck establishing its running game against a Bucksport defense led by inside linebackers Matt Gray and Robbie Maguire, and soon began losing the game of field position.
But Bucksport couldn’t take advantage because of its fumbling woes, and Bapst put together a 37-yard scoring drive after an exchange of fumbles in the final two minutes of the first half.
Merritt passed to Ryan Moriarity for 22 yards to the 17, then one incompletion later found Moriarity open in the end zone on a slant pattern for the touchdown with 6.8 seconds left before intermission.
Merritt rushed for the two-point conversion to give the Crusaders an 8-6 halftime lead.
GOLDEN BUCKS 26, CRUSADERS 8
Bucksport (1-1) 6 0 6 14 – 26
John Bapst (1-1) 0 8 0 0 – 8
B-Maguire 6 run (kick failed)
JB-Moriarity 17 pass from Merritt (Merritt rush)
B-Maguire 3 run (rush failed)
B-Fish 30 interception return (Warren rush)
B-Maguire 30 interception return (rush failed)
Bucksport John Bapst
First downs 14 9
Rushing att.-yards 51-271 30-73
Passing comp.-att. 0-2 5-23
Passing yards 0 44
Total yards 261 117
Punts-avg. 2-33.0 5-21.8
Fumbles-lost 7-5 3-1
Intercepted by 2 0
Penalties-yards 7-52 3-31
Rushing
Bucksport: Maguire 26-155, Warren 13-68, Fish 8-27, Freeman 2-15, Gray 2-6; John Bapst: Smith 9-55, Gallant 10-29, Merritt 11-(minus 1)
Passing
Bucksport: Fish 0-2-0-0; John Bapst: Merritt 5-22-2-44, Gallant 0-1-0-0
Receiving
Bucksport: none; John Bapst: Moriarity 3-46, LaPierre 1-7, Smith 1-(minus 2)
A-350 (est.)
Comments
comments for this post are closed