Bucks light the ‘B’ with Homecoming win over Eastland

The Buckaroos lit the ‘B’ for the first time since the final game of last season as they pulled off a big Homecoming win over Eastland, 35-6. 

In the game held Friday, Sept. 19, the Bucks captured momentum from the opening drive and never let go of it. The energy from the green-colored crowd was palpable as the offense and defense clicked on all cylinders. 

It was the first Homecoming game that the Bucks won in three years. 

“At least this class can say we won on Homecoming, and they earned it,” Head Coach Casey Pearce said. “It’s been a hard road to travel. They’ve navigated a bunch of things and put up with a bunch of frustration to be able to get the win.”

After winning the coin toss, the Bucks elected to receive and Truett Trammel returned the kickoff to their own 41. Jaime Cruz then ran for a couple of first downs and set the Bucks up at the Eastland 25-yard line. 

An incomplete pass by Joseph Juneau a couple of plays later brought up a 4th and 10. On the next play, Juneau threw a pass up for Ryan Waller, who came down with the catch against tight coverage along the right sideline. 

Juneau then found Waller again, this time in the left corner of the end zone as Waller highpointed the football and toedragged for the score. The extra point was good by Josiah Acosta and the Bucks led 7-0 at the 6:32 mark of the first quarter. 

The Mavericks were able to answer right back on the ensuing drive as they drove downfield after starting at the 30. 

A long carry by the Eastland set them up at the two-yard line with Trammel recording a touchdown-saving tackle. However, the running back took a pitch on the next play into the end zone for the score at the 4:35 mark. 

Following a false start on the two-point attempt, Ryan Waller knocked down an intended pass to the end zone on the second attempt, as the Bucks still lead, 7-6. 

The Bucks started with good field position on the next drive as the Mavericks attempted an onside kick and were called for an offsides penalty. 

While the offense was able to move downfield, set up by a pass interference call on a pass downfield to Waller, the drive stalled and it was a turnover on downs at the Eastland 20. 

The Bucks’ defense would get the ball right back into the hands of Juneau and the offense led by Offensive Coordinator Jarrod Shepperd. The defense knocked the ball loose on a big tackle behind the line and it was recovered by Hunter Davis. 

“We were able to keep them off schedule defensively with that offense,” Coach Pearce said. “We were able to get extra possessions and we were able to score.”

Juneau led the offense back down into the red zone, setting them up with a pass to Cameron David down the right sideline at the four. 

The senior quarterback then took it himself on a run into the end zone with just over a minute to go in the opening quarter. A good extra point by Acosta extended the lead to 14-6. 

The Bucks recovered another fumble on the ensuing drive, caused by Trammel and recovered by Crispen Pineda. Waller came down with another catch down to the Mavericks' 30-yard line as the quarter closed out. 

Cruz kept churning his legs and pushed the pile forward on a run to the 15 to open the second quarter. At the 9:41 mark, the running back took the handoff and sprinted up the middle before pushing into the end zone for the score. A good extra point made the score 21-6. 

The Buckaroo defense continued to stand tall on the ensuing drive despite allowing a long run for a first down, as a tackle for loss by Davis and Joacim Fernandez brought up a fourth down. Eastland attempted a pitch run play on fourth down, which the Bucks sniffed out to turn the ball back over on downs. 

Hudson Woodward came in at quarterback on the drive, while Cruz continued to go full beast mode in the run game. Following a first down run, Cruz ran up the middle into the end zone for a 20-yard score. The extra point was good and the lead was 28-6 with 4:15 until half. 

Eastland was able to move the ball a bit on the next drive, but they ultimately weren’t able to find the end zone as the Bucks’ defense came up with another fourth-down stop right before half.

With Woodward back in at quarterback to open the second half, the Bucks didn’t reach the end zone in the third quarter but continued playing tough defense. The offense tried to get a little too cute to open the fourth quarter, calling a trick play that led to a turnover. The ball was snapped to Cooper Wimberly, who flipped it back to Juneau and was intercepted as Juneau tried to pass it back to Wimberly. 

The Bucks were able to get the ball back on another forced turnover of their own, with David recovering a fumble and returning it to the six. Cruz punched it in for his third touchdown of the game at the 7:48 mark and the extra point went through the uprights for the 35-6 lead. 

The Bucks ultimately got the ball back and ran the clock out as the loud Homecoming crowd got on their feet and the “B” was lit up downtown on top of the Clear Fork Bank building. 

Cruz was the star on offense with three touchdowns and 137 yards on 17 carries, while Waller came down with five catches for 116 yards and a touchdown on seven targets. Davis caught both of his targets for 36 yards. 

“We’re doing some things better; we’ve got to continue to get cleaned up,” Coach Pearce said. “I thought our throwing game, we took advantage of some coverage matchups. 13 (Waller) went up and got the football, 12 (Davis) went up and got the football. Doing that makes the quarterback’s job a little easier.”

Juneau was 6-for-8 on passing attempts for 132 yards and one touchdown. 

Defensively, Hayden Mendoza led the way with 11 total tackles (5 TFLs), followed by Juneau with 9 (6 TFLs), Brenham Walker with 8 (3 TFLs) and Hunter Davis with 7 (3 TFLs) as the leaders rushing the backfield. Juneau, Gunnar Pearce, Cruz, Trammel and Fernandez each caused a fumble, while Douglas White, Davis and Pineda recovered one each.

“I’m sure freaking proud of this group,” Coach Pearce said. “Hell, if we keep winning, we may need to have Homecoming every week.”

The Buckaroos travel to face the Tolar Rattlers (2-2) in the “snake den” Friday, Sept. 26, who are coming off a close 36-33 loss at Comanche