Boyd-Buchanan's Beasley gets his yardage early

For Boyd-Buchanan's Ben Beasley, yards have been hard to come by -- almost as much as opportunities -- and yet he still reached one thousand.

Beasley had to get his yards quickly last week and he picked up 152 yards on 19 carries and scored four touchdowns in the Buccaneers' 35-0 victory over Copper Basin.

Despite looking over the coaches' shoulders after many halftimes, Beasley reached the 1,000-yard rushing plateau against Copper Basin.

"He needed something like 90 yards and he got 152 so that's more than 1,000 yards in basically seven and a half games," Boyd-Buchanan coach Grant Reynolds said. "But he'll earn his keep in the playoffs. I'll guarantee that."

Beasley got one series in the third quarter, and scored on a 35-yard run before being relegated to the bench but his performance was good enough to earn Times Free Press Player of the week honors.

Sitting the second half has been almost a way of life this year for the 195-pound senior running back.

"We only played nine games because we got a forfeit against David Brainerd. He didn't play the second half of either the Chattanooga Christian or Grace games and he might've gone on series in the third quarter against Notre Dame," Reynolds said.

Beasley put on at least 15 pounds since last season but also has retained his quickness.

"He's up there right at 190 but he is a tough, tough kid," said Reynolds, whose team will sit through a Class 2A playoff bye Friday before hosting the Marion County-Forrest winner a week from Friday.

"He is as elusive as he has been, but some nights he is and some nights it's like he wants to run over people. It depends on his mindset, I guess," Reynolds said. "I don't know what it is, but I'd like to have another five weeks of it."

Boyd-Buchanan has seen a variety of defensive schemes but almost all allowed for at least eight defenders to be very close to the line of scrimmage as they try to overpower the Bucs' big line.

"Sometimes you wind up outmanned if you're zone blocking. It's hard to account for all of them," Reynolds said.

He was probably winking when he said that because while teams might have aggravated his offensive line, few if any have been able to completely shut down the Bucs running game.

"It's obvious those five or six guys up front have done a good job of getting (Beasley) through the line and out there, and they do it week-in and week-out against three-man, four-man, even five-man fronts and Ben would be the first to say that," Reynolds said. "He's quite humble and he's a team player. He and the linemen are pretty close and he isn't the type to jump on somebody if they miss a block."

Too, Andrew Crowe's talents as a passing quarterback have emerged over the last few weeks and are keeping defenses from crowding the line of scrimmage in overwhelming numbers.

"His pass completions are making a difference. They have helped open up the run," Reynolds said.