Buckner powers White Hall past Alma to advance to semifinals

ALMA — With the game on the line, White Hall firstyear coach Bobby Bolding knew who his team would turn to in its final drive of the game at Airedale Stadium.

The Bulldogs gave the ball to senior running back Donte Buckner early and often on its game-winning drive, and it worked out well. Bucker capped a 74-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown with 31 seconds left to help White Hall pull away in a 24-17 victory against Alma.

“When you got a thoroughbred, you get on his back, tighten up the saddle, hold on and let him go,” Bolding said. “That’s what we have been doing all year. It was big burning the last six minutes of the clock. That drive was big.”

Buckner took over for the Bulldogs on the key drive that helped seal the game in a second-round matchup of

the Class 5A playoffs.

Entering the final possession, Buckner had only two carries for more than 10 yards. He closed out the game strong on the touchdown-winning drive with two runs of 12 yards and another for 15. He also converted a fourth-and-2 play inside the Airedales’ 15 to keep the offense on the field.

Buckner finished with 21 carries for 104 yards with two touchdowns. He along with the Bulldog offense didn’t find a lot of success before the break. He had five carries for 2 yards at the half. The Bulldog offense had just 33 yards of offense in 15 plays in the initial two quarters.

The White Hall offense quickly picked up the pace in the third quarter after being down 14-0 at halftime. The Bulldogs forced an Airedale punt after the break then needed just two plays to score.

White Hall (8-4) capped the drive and cut the Alma (5-7) lead to 14-7 when Griffin Johnson caught a 71-yard pass from Matthew Martinez with about nine minutes left in the third quarter.

“That was big,” Bolding said. “We saw that play at the end of the first half. They ran the same play on us — a pretty identical play. We needed something to give us a spark. It did give us that spark.”

The Bulldogs tied the game up at 14-14 with a 1-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter. Buckner broke through for his first touchdown of the night for White Hall to cap the 14-point quarter of offense.

“We told them at halftime to not panic,” Bolding said. “We were really calm. We made some adjustments defensively. We started to not dilly-dally around running the ball inside instead going to the edge. We made a few plays, made some stops and that gave us the momentum.”

White Hall momentarily took a 17-14 lead with a 23-yard field goal from Kyler Barnes in the fourth quarter. Alma came right back after that to get a field goal of its own to tie the game at 17-17 with about six minutes left in the game. Olof Olsson connected on a 35-yard field goal for the Airedales.

That’s when White Hall took over with about six minutes left in the game and gave the ball to Buckner with handoffs and even getting direct snaps to take the lead back for the win. He guided the Bulldogs down to the 2 before finishing off the drive.

Alma took over with just 28 seconds on its final drive of the game but fumbled the ball on a trick play, ending its roller-coaster season. The Airedales lost their initial five games of the season but rallied to win five of last six game entering Friday’s game.

“Every game has been down to the last play,” Alma coach

Doug Loughridge said. “That’s why they never panicked. I felt like in the last 30 seconds we still had a chance. We’ve had to grind out a lot of games. I’m proud of this team.”

The Airedales had critical penalties that halted their drives in the second half. Alma had penalties on three of its four drive after the break that played a part in those ending without touchdowns.

Alma took a 14-0 lead into the break with the help of a trick pass play. The Airedales reversed the ball twice before getting the ball back to quarterback Landon Blair. He then found Conner Stacy wide open for a 34-yard touchdown 28 seconds before the half.

The Airedales used their second drive of the night to find the end zone and take a 7-0 lead late in the second quarter. Josh Davis ran for a 19-yard touchdown run to cap the eight-play, 81-yard drive.

Alma used 13 plays to get down to the opposing 5 on its initial possession of the night. The Airedales then tossed an interception on a halfback pass play on third-and-goal. White Hall’s Kam Robinson came away with the turnover to end the drive.

White Hall picked up just two first downs and had 33 yards of offense on 15 plays before the break. Alma controlled most of the half, finishing with 239 yards on 28 plays in the initial two quarters.

The Bulldogs got just four first-half possessions with the last ending with a first-play kneel down. White Hall was forced to punt in the other three drives.

FOUR DOWNS

• Alma coach Doug Loughridge coached his final game, as he now shifts his role to be the full-time athletic director for the Airedales. • There were six penalties during the initial three official plays of the game.

• White Hall heads to the semifinals for the first time since 2011.

• White Hall advances to face Little Rock Christian in the semifinals next week.