Raiders battle Bucks to the very last play

It was a game both teams had circled on their schedules since the last meeting a year ago, and in the final battle between two longtime Patriot Athletic Conference foes, Buckeye held on to defeat Columbia, 38-35, on Sept. 21 as the Raiders’ last-second hail mary sailed out the of the back of the end zone.

Despite a combined 73 points scored, it was Buckeye’s defense that made the difference in the end.

The Bucks scored 17 points off four Columbia turnovers and pressured Raiders quarterback Jared Bycznski all night. On the final play with less than 10 seconds left in regulation, Logan Schulz got a hand in the face of Bycznski and the Bucks watched the pass fall incomplete as time expired.

“As soon as that timer went out I started crying,” Buckeye quarterback Jacob Doerge said. “I can’t explain it. I’m emotional right now.

“(Against) a good team, it was such a close game. For me, especially for my first year as quarterback, it was so big for me and I think for the team and for our confidence going forward. It really meant a lot.”

Other than a long-standing conference rivalry, the game had obvious playoff implications with both teams entering at 3-1, and the hype surrounding the game was clearly overwhelming at times.

Both teams were flagged with costly personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conducts as the taunting mounted throughout the game and penalties put Columbia in tough situations on more than one occasion.

“We had a lot of yards in penalties and we had three unsportsmanlikes,” Columbia coach Jason Ward said. “That really hurt us. We’ll see that tomorrow (on film) and see exactly how that played a part.”

Columbia (3-2) standout Brandon Coleman was impressive yet again, playing like he had something to prove after going down with a seasonending knee injury in last year’s game against the Bucks.

The 6-foot-1, 210 pound senior finished with 19 carries for 183 yards and three touchdowns, including a 33-yard run in the third quarter in which he carried five defenders with him the whole way before tying the game at 28.

He added four catches for 59 yards.

“We definitely needed to stop Coleman,” Buckeye’s Michael Knoll, who had two interceptions, said. “He’s a great running back. We really studied film on him.”

The Bucks weren’t exactly able to stop Coleman, but then, no team really can. The team did just enough to slow the Raiders’ hard-nosed rushing attack to improve to 4-1 overall.

“They’re a really, really good team,” Buckeye coach Greg Dennison said. “We knew we were going to have to do a lot of things well, knew we were probably going to have to outscore them, and score a lot of points, because their offense is that good. Our kids feel really good about this.”

Much was said about the heart and character displayed by both teams after the game, but Ward isn’t interested in all that.

After all, there were no underdogs in this game, just two quality football programs showing what high school football is all about.

“We’re a really good football team, that’s what I’ll say,” Ward said. “We showed heart, but we’re a really good football team and we came up a little bit short to another really good football team. You start talking about heart and that’s all good and Rudy-like, but we’re not Rudy, we’re a really good football team and I think we showed that tonight and we came up a little short.”