Howard’s defense was its best scoring option in the second half of Friday’s high school football game at Boyd-Buchanan. But not to be outdone, the Hustlin’ Tigers’ offense is the unit that best kept the Buccaneers’ offense in check.
The combination gave Howard a 16-7 victory.
The Tigers outgained the Bucaneers 211-76 in the first half. But because the Bucs cleanly executed the snap and placement after their touchdown and Howard didn’t, they had a 7-6 lead at halftime.
The Tigers took the possession of the second-half kickoff and had the ball for 14 plays. Although they turned it over on downs at Boyd-Buchanan’s 6, it was a sign of things to come.
What was unforeseen was the ease in which Howard noseguard Fred Glover got in the backfield on the Bucs’ next play, and his hit on quarterback Clayton Parker caused a fumble.
“All 11 did what they were supposed to on that play,” Howard defensive coordinator Ardante Dawson said. “That’s why he was able to get back there.”
Evander Rollins picked up the ball in the end zone. He then ran for the conversion.
“Our defense has been our savior throughout the year,” Howard coach Alvin Tarver said. “We’ve been playing consistently there.”
Early in the fourth quarter Ross Keasler’s second fumble recovery put Boyd-Buchanan (2-2) in business at the Tigers’ 5, but three plays netted 2 yards. On fourth-and-goal, the Bucs called two timeouts sandwiched around one by Howard (3-0), then ran straight ahead and lost 2 yards.
Boyd-Buchanan coach Grant Reynolds, who said he made some mistakes coaching and will try to get that corrected next week, dismissed the notion of trying a field goal. The Bucs had missed a 39-yarder in the first half.
It turned out a field goal wouldn’t have done much good, considering Boyd-Buchanan didn’t get the ball back until 35 seconds remained, and that was at its 8-yard line. A 15-play march, all on the ground, ate nearly 10 minutes off the clock. Eventually Rollins registered a sack in the end zone for the final score.
“We had a mediocre week of practice, and I told them that was going to catch up with them,” Tarver said. “I was glad to see at the end they did enough to win the game. They came through with some key first downs.”
Howard quarterback Thomas McCauley threw for 156 yards, including a 67-yard bomb to Darrion Roshell for a touchdown. Eric McCullough led the rushing with 66 yards on 15 carries.
Parker was limited to 35 passing yards and Jim Cardwell completed his only pass for 9. Chase Reed was the Bucs’ leading ground gainer with eight carries for 37 yards.
“We’ve used two quarterbacks,” Reynolds said. “We didn’t block very well for them. Howard has a lot of speed and that gave us some problems. They made some plays on the edge. That’s where they hurt us defensively.”