As stingy as it had been most of the night, it was fitting that Boyd-Buchanan’s defense wrapped up the team’s second straight District 5-A football championship.
The Buccaneers, ranked 10th in Class 2A, smothered previously unbeaten Copper Basin most of the night, intercepting five passes. When defensive lineman Jacob Terry sacked Eric Sisson in the end zone late, that wrapped up a 22-7 victory at Finley Stadium.
“We’ve only given up about six points in our six wins, so we’ve been pretty solid defensively,” Bucs coach Grant Reynolds said. “I’m really proud of the way our kids fought and won the district again.”
Boyd-Buchanan’s defense held 1A’s second-ranked Copper Basin (8-1) to no yards or negative yards on 19 plays and limited the Cougars to 54 rushing yards, while the Bucs rolled up 221 yards on 51 carries.
Sisson had been intercepted only three times all season but threw four Thursday. The Bucs (6-4) have outscored their three district opponents by a combined 94-7.
“We knew they liked to run the ball mostly, and once we shut that down, our defensive backs did a really good job of breaking on the pass and getting turnovers,” said Bucs senior linebacker Ross Keasler, who had one interception. “We don’t have many seniors, but it was a big deal for us to win the district again, and it puts us in a good spot for the playoffs next week.”
Both teams struggled offensively until the final five minutes of the first half. The Bucs scored first, set up by an interception by Tyler Garner and needing just six plays to cover 43 yards. Chase Reed scored on a 14-yard run.
Just over a minute later Copper Basin pulled even on a 49-yard pass from Eric Sisson to fullback Austin Dickey, but the Bucs countered with an eight-play, 54-yard drive, capped by freshman quarterback Jim Cardwell’s 13-yard touchdown run.
After a scoreless third quarter, the Bucs put the game away with just over four minutes remaining on a 12-yard touchdown run by Reed, coming after the fifth interception of the night.