Cardwell-led Bucs roll past Silverdale Baptist Seahawks, 42-6

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

Silverdale Baptist thought the wisest way to slow Boyd-Buchanan's powerful run game Friday night was to stack the box with defenders. Unfortunately, the visiting Buccaneers noticed.

Quarterback Jim Cardwell softened the Seahawks defense by completing 14 passes for 233 yards and accounted for three touchdowns as the third-ranked (Class 2A) Bucs won 42-6.

Boyd-Buchanan added 282 yards on the ground.

"We noticed they were crowding the box," Cardwell said. "They must have seen on film what a great job Rance [Harden] and John [Hale] have been doing on the ground. So we decided we needed to throw to take advantage of what they were giving us.

"The line did a great job protecting, and once we loosened them up, we had big holes to run through."

For the third straight week, the Bucs (3-0) had the "mercy rule" in effect the entire fourth quarter.

Silverdale got off to brilliant start. Tristan Huggins returned the opening kickoff 66 yards, and seven plays later Spencer Mossburg scored the season's first points against Boyd-Buchanan's defense with an 11-yard run.

On their first offensive snap, the Bucs' Cardwell hit Austin Hall on a 45-yard pass to the 1-yard-line. Hale pushed in to make it 7-6 with 8:14 left in the first quarter.

By halftime, Cardwell was 10-of-11 passing with 169 yards with touchdown passes to Hall and Grant Mathis, making it 28-6. Harden added Boyd-Buchanan's other first-half TD on a 3-yard run.

While pleased with the offensive production, Bucs coach Grant Reynolds took note of his team's negatives.

"We're going to play some really good teams down the line, and we can't play like this if we're going to win those games," he said. "They were stacking the box, so Jim did a really nice job of passing to take advantage of it. That opened the run game. We've got to cut down on the penalties and turnovers if we're going to win big games later."

The Bucs had 12 penalties for 125 yards and fumbled three times, losing two.

Harden was the leading rusher with 124 yards on 10 carries, while Hales rolled up 86 on 16 carries.

Boyd-Buchanan held Silverdale's Matt McCulley to less than 40 yards rushing. He came in as one of the area's leading rushers with 251 yards in the first two games.

Mossburg had seven tackles and a fumble recovery, while Joshua Rogers also had seven tackles. Daniel Guinn recovered a fumble.

In the second half, Boyd-Buchanan got third-quarter touchdowns from Cardwell, with an 18-yard scamper, and Harden on a 38-yard run.

The Bucs got six tackles and a fumble recovery from Austin Bailey, while Stephen Ingram and Harden had five tackles each.

Boyd-Buchanan, now 1-0 in District 5-A, hosts Howard next Friday, while the Seahawks (2-1 overall and 0-1 in 5-A) travel to Meigs County.

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