History can rarely be made without adversity.
For Boyd Buchanan’s football team, it seemed like history would have to wait after a slow first half had the Buccaneers in uncertain waters for the first time in more than a month and a half.
Enter David Green to right the sails.
With the Bucs down 14-9 at halftime Friday night at home, the senior running back returned the opening kickoff of the third quarter 60 yards, setting up a touchdown one play later, and Boyd Buchanan never looked back in a 51-21 win against Knoxville Grace to mark back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time in program history.
Green would add another touchdown run of 28 yards and finish with 10 carries for 163 yards.
“Just an unbelievable effort out of him,” Boyd Buchanan coach Gary Rankin said. “We needed it. He just put us on his back and carried us there for a while.”
TSSAA Division II-AA’s second-ranked Bucs finished 7-0 in DII-AA East to wrap up the region championship, a No. 1 seed and the chance to host at least two home games to start the playoffs. Knoxville Grace (8-2, 5-2) will be the No. 3 seed from the East Region.
“To go back to back two years in a row and be undefeated and having a 20-game regular-season winning streak right now … we’re doing things at Boyd that hadn’t been done before, and I’m proud of that,” Rankin said.
“I’m not saying we’re going to win a state championship … but we’re in the conversation when they talk about good programs.”
The visiting Rams ran tough early in the game behind their big offensive line and fed the ball to running back Terrion Thomas all night. The sophomore accounted for all three of Grace’s touchdowns. He would finish with 28 carries for 147 yards, 104 of which came in the first half.
His second touchdown, a 24-yard run, made it 14-6 with 5:30 to go until halftime.
Boyd Buchanan senior Ethan Lane would add a 42-yard field goal, his third of the first half, before the horn to keep the game close.
(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night’s Chattanooga-area prep football games)
Rankin said his Bucs didn’t do a good job of tying Thomas down at times but made a concentrated effort in the second half that was tough to beat.
“We just started blocking a little better, had a little more fire about us had a little more intensity,” he said. “I knew field goals weren’t going to win the game.”
Green agreed.
“We were just messing up the small things, not lining up in the right places and missing blocks,” Green said of the first half. “We didn’t put our heads down. We knew we could come out here and win the football game.”
The Bucs would score touchdowns on all five of their second-half possessions. After Green’s second score made it 23-14, Darian Shannon avoided a Rams defender in the backfield and went around the left end for a 16-yard touchdown. That was followed by a 58-yard interception return by K’Leb Crowder to take the winds out of the Rams’ sails.
Keion Brooks went 33 yards untouched into the end zone with 2:09 left in the game to cap the history-making victory. Green was along the sideline cheering him on.
“I love my guys,” Green said. “They are always cheering for me on the sideline. When I come off the field, they start shaking my hand and telling me congrats.
“So I have got to make sure I show some love to them.”
And now Boyd Buchanan, the DII-AA state runner-up last year, turns its eyes to the playoffs.
“Our kids and coaches are doing some things that hadn’t been done here before, and that’s what we want,” Rankin said. “We want to be in the conversation when they talk about good programs and good teams. It was just a really, really great second half for us.”
Said Crowder: “All that is left next is to go get a ring.”
Contact Robert Holder at sports@timesfreepress.com.