Chattanooga Christian walks the plank as Boyd Buchanan moves to 6-0

BY JEFF CATE (TEAM FYN SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR) – Boyd Buchanan had not beaten Chattanooga Christian since a 41-0 victory on Broad Street in 2012 or started a season 6-0 since the 2015 season: check both of those off the list for the Buccaneers as they continued their strong start to 2023 with a 35-14 win in the Ridgecut Rivalry at David Boyd Field on Friday night.

Both defenses came to play in the first quarter when neither the Chargers or the Buccaneers were able to put a dent in the scoreboard through the first 12 minutes, making the score 0-0 at the end of the 1^st quarter. The Boyd Buchanan defense, which came into the game giving up a total of 8 points through the first 5 weeks / an average of 1.6 points per game, helped give their offense great field position for their first score. CCS punted from the back of their endzone and the Bucs popped off a 31-yard punt return to the Chargers’ 16-yard line, quarterback Houston Hicks converted a fourth down conversion, then Jaylon Sanderfer punched it in from 2 yards out soon after, and Boyd Buchanan had a 7-0 lead with 6:53 left in the 2^nd quarter. Near the end of the quarter, the Buccaneers’ defense gave Hicks and the offense another chance for more points as they recovered a Chargers’ fumble near midfield with 1:50 left. Not even a minute later, Sanderfer rushed for his second touchdown of the half on a 21-yard run and a 14-0 Boyd lead with 53 seconds left in the half (which would be the halftime score).

Less than 2 minutes into the 3^rd quarter, Tavo Davis added another wrinkle to the Boyd Buchanan rushing attack as he found the hole his offensive line opened up and showed off his speed on a 47-yard run to give the Bucs a 20-0 lead with 10:53 left in the quarter (the PAT was no good).

“Our offensive line started wearing them down a little bit, and our running backs (all of them) were pretty good”, Boyd Buchanan head coach Gary Rankin said. “Jaylon (Sanderfer) can take over a game when he wants to. He did a good job of that tonight.”

Chattanooga Christian’s high powered passing attack showed life on their first possession of the second half as Gavin Berger found Jermaine Stinson on a 14-yard touchdown and the Chargers’ first points of the evening, cutting the Boyd Buchanan lead to 20-7 with 8:27 to go in the 3^rd quarter. The Bucs would take the momentum that CCS had on the next possession, driving back down the field and Sanderfer getting his 3^rd rushing touchdown of game on a 21-yard run. Boyd Buchanan took a 28-7 lead with 3 minutes left in the 3^rd quarter after the Sanderfer touchdown run and converting on a 2-point conversion as Hicks found Brayden Standefer in the back of the endzone. The Chargers had an opportunity to cut the Bucs’ lead in half near the end of the quarter and were inside the BBS 10, but were stopped on 4^th down.

Timothy Jones and Isaac Summey had an interception each in the 4^th quarter for the Buccaneers, with Summey’s setting up Sabastian Jones for his touchdown run from 9 yards out on the very next play and Boyd Buchanan had a 35-7 lead with 4:51 left in the game. The final score of the game was from CCS’ LD Hollingsworth as he scored on a 20-yard run, which made the score 35-14 Bucs. Hollingsworth and Sanderfer would both crack the century mark on this night, each going over 100 yards rushing and 4 total touchdowns.

Boyd Buchanan snapped a 6 game Chattanooga Christian winning streak that dates back to 2009 when the Buccaneers won the first 4 games of this series and begin a season 6-0 for the first time since 2015 when BBS finished 10-0 during the regular season.

“To be honest, it’s a little bit faster than I thought.” Rankin said when asked about the progression the program/team has made since he took over in 2022. “I think most people thought it would be next year before we could get on this kind of run. I’m proud of our toughness, our kids are starting to show some mental toughness. We needed to win a big game and we did.”