Reed, Cardwell key Bucs runaway

Boyd-Buchanan quarterback Jim Cardwell loves tailback Chase Reed. So does Buccaneers coach Grant Reynolds -- especially when Reed is running like he did Friday night.

Reed finished with 279 yards rushing on 16 carries and scored four touchdowns, while Cardwell added three rushing scores, a touchdown passing and a two-point conversion in a 54-6 District 5-A rout of Grace Academy.

Boyd-Buchanan rushed for 352 yards.

The game was halted with 7:26 remaining when Grace senior Jeremy Mayfield, making a tackle on Cole Watkins, collapsed while walking back to the huddle. Mayfield lay face down for about 30 minutes. He was taken to the hospital but was conscious and communicating with the first response unit -- even giving a "thumbs-up" sign while being carted to the ambulance.

Reed scored on runs of 4 and 33 yards in the first half and 28 and 79 yards in the second for the Bucs (5-0, 2-0).

"It's pretty good when I can just give him and [John Hale] the ball, because they know what to do," Cardwell said. "We talked all week about how we didn't want to come out average or slow; we wanted to be clicking on all cylinders."

Asked about his offensive linemen's performance, Cardwell said he would "probably have to buy them dinner."

The tone was set early, as Reed carried the first four plays of the game, going 44 yards on the first one and scoring three plays later from 4 yards out.

"I really liked our tempo early on," Reynolds said. "The backs were seeing the zones and making some good cuts."

Grace did hang in early, cutting a 12-point deficit in half on a 65-yard touchdown pass from Josh Smith to Corey Nelson, but an onside kick failed and gave Boyd-Buchanan the ball in Grace territory. After a 43-yard pass from Cardwell to Kyle Thomas, Cardwell scored from a yard out.

Grace then fumbled -- one of four lost by the Golden Eagles -- and Cardwell completed a 41-yard Hail Mary pass to Andrew Peace to go into halftime up 26-6.

"That pass was huge," Reynolds said. "We work on that every week in practice, and we had guys in the right position. It gave us a lot of energy going into the locker room."

Smith finished with 94 yards passing and 75 rushing for the Golden Eagles. Nelson had three catches for 99 yards.

"We just didn't show up tonight," Grace coach Bob Ateca said. "We're a better football team than we showed tonight, but that's a good team we played tonight."

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