In a game that featured 66 passes, it was still the legs of Chase Reed that proved to be the difference.
Boyd-Buchanan's senior running back accounted for three of his team's four touchdowns and the Buccaneers' defense forced three turnovers in a 27-7 nondistrict win over Chattanooga Christian.
Similar to last year's meeting, CCS struck first, but this time it was a touchdown on its opening series. The Chargers' first seven plays were through the air before Jay Sims finished the 10-play drive with a 1-yard scoring dive.
Boyd-Buchanan answered almost immediately, needing just five plays to cover 66 yards to tie the game on Jim Cardwell's 12-yard pass to Austin Hall. The Bucs took the lead on their next series, again taking just five plays to go 87 yards, Reed scoring on a 29-yard run.
Reed added a 12-yard scoring run midway through the third quarter, then put the game away when he fielded a punt on the second bounce and darted up the middle of the field 66 yards for his third TD of the night.
"On the punt, it was all about setting up the blocks, and then once I made the first guy miss, I had a lot of room to run," said Reed, who finished with 83 rushing yards on 19 carries. "You can't have your best game every time out. I could have gotten more, but this is a good way to get the season started."
The Chargers' pass-happy offense managed to pick up a lot of yards on short routes across the middle, but the Bucs made the receivers pay for it with several big hits and also intercepted two passes. Corbett completed 29 of 51 attempts for 232 yards.
"They completed some passes underneath on us, but I was real happy with the way we tackled in space," Bucs coach Grant Reynolds said. "We didn't have much consistency on offense, but Chase is a spark plug for us when we need a lift. He just makes plays, and that punt return was really big for us.
"We were pretty solid defensively, and we've got something to build on."
