BUCKSPORT – After watching Bucksport dominate the line of scrimmage and use a mix of big plays and old-fashioned, ball-control offense to defeat Stearns of Millinocket Friday night, it’s hard to believe the Golden Bucks considered their rushing attack a weakness.

Bucksport ran over, by, and through Stearns defenders en route to a season-high 422 total yards on the ground and a 41-0 victory over the winless Minutemen during Homecoming Weekend.

“All week we worked real hard on the line making their blocks,” said Bucksport sophomore tailback Chris Maguire. “Until now, we hadn’t really had any success with the line, but I think tonight everything just came together and they got off the ball quicker and were able to wear them down too.”

The Golden Bucks’ offensive line of Dylan Small, Spencer Yeo, C.J. Breidt, Danny Carter and Darin Woodman opened big holes and gave their backs plenty of running room at the line of scrimmage.

Maguire led the way for the 2-2 Bucks with two touchdowns and 165 yards on 14 carries. Classmate Nate Warren also had 165 yards rushing and two touchdowns, but carried the ball just six times after taking over late in the second quarter.

“They didn’t run anything too fancy. They ran a lot of off-tackle plays, but their line did a good job and kept us off-balance,” said Stearns coach Chris Preble, whose Minutemen sink to 0-4. “Plus they were able to control the ball and get some big plays. It helped that they had a good mix of backs to use and fresh backs to take over when guys got tired.”

With only 22 players suited up for the game, Stearns didn’t have that luxury, but Preble wasn’t without a solid run game of his own as senior tailback Gene Kim gained 157 yards on 29 carries.

“They have a great tradition and those kids are not just fighting for their season, they’re fighting to keep football up there,” said Bucksport coach Joel Sankey. “They not only play hard, they hit hard and they don’t give up anything.”

Bucksport took a 6-0 lead 88 seconds into the game as Maguire scored on a 37-yard run up the middle and to the left on the third play from scrimmage. The teams stymied each other, scoring-wise, the rest of the quarter, but Bucksport scored again on its third possession. This time, it was nine-play, 52-yard drive capped by Todd Freeman’s catch of a 15-yard TD pass from Derek Fish.

The Bucks made it 22-0 five minutes later on a 65-yard drive capped by Maguire’s 6-yard run off left tackle and took a 29-0 lead into halftime after Warren broke through the middle, cut right and took off for an 80-yard TD run with 3:08 left in the second quarter.

The Bucks’ last two scores came on a 25-yard run by Todd Freeman on the team’s first possession in the second half and Warren’s 59-yard TD run on the second possession.

After Kim led a Stearns’ rushing attack that produced 133 yards at halftime, the Bucks limited the Minutemen to just 81 in the second half.

“Coach [Wayne] Richards made some adjustments on their off-tackle plays and we pretty much shut them down after that,” said Sankey.

The Bucks never punted in the game, but did commit 13 penalties for a total of 85 yards.

“We’ve been inconsistent and made a lot of mistakes,” Sankey said. “We’re trying to find our offensive identity and we’re still not done.”

GOLDEN BUCKS 41, MINUTEMEN 0

Stearns (0-4) 0 0 0 0 – 0

Bucksport (2-2) 6 23 12 0 – 41

B-Maguire 37 run (kick failed)

B-Freeman 15 pass from Fish (Gray recovered fumble in endzone)

B-Maguire 6 run (Freeman pass from Fish)

B-Warren 80 run (Maguire kick)

B-Freeman 25 run (kick failed)

B-Warren 59 run (kick failed)

Stearns Bucksport

First downs 15 15

Rushing att.-yards 51-214 46-422

Passing comp.-att. 2-7 2-5

Passing yards 7 33

Total yards 221 455

Punts-avg. 4-29.0 0-0

Fumbles-lost 5-3 5-2

Intercepted by 0 0

Penalties-yards 1-2 13-85

Rushing

Stearns: Kim 29-157, Barnett 12-29, Osborne 7-17, Burleigh 2-10, Jones 1-1; Bucksport: Warren 6-165, Maguire 14-165, Gray 4-51, Freeman 8-51, Raymond 2-4, McGeechan 5-2, Sutherland 4-(minus-2), Fish 3-(minus-14)

Passing

Stearns: Burleigh 2-6-0-7, Kim 0-1-0-0; Bucksport: Fish 2-5-0-33

Receiving

Stearns: Barnett 2-7; Bucksport: Freeman 2-33

A-350 (est.)