Boyd-Buchanan’s Jim Cardwell (1) and Chase Miller (44) force an incompletion to Friendship Christian’s Dillon Hodges (17).
Photo by Steve WamplerLEBANON, Tenn. – In the final minute of the first half, Jim Cardwell suffered an ankle injury. He had to be helped from the field.
Cardwell on two legs had kept his Boyd-Buchanan team within striking distance through the first 23 minutes, but the last 55 seconds of the first half were devastating — his ankle injury and a 55-yard touchdown drive by Friendship Christian that gave the host Commanders a commanding 14-point lead.
The handicapped Buccaneers, though allowing just one more TD, simply couldn’t generate enough offense and wound up losing 27-6 in Tennessee’s Class 2A semifinals.
“We got outplayed. We got outcoached,” Boyd-Buchanan coach Grant Reynolds said for the benefit of the TV cameras.
He knew, though, when Cardwell went down that the Bucs were going to be hard-pressed to make up any kind of deficit regardless of what his defense did. He said as much even before meeting with his team.