Bucks fall on the road to Otto-Eldred
By Bees O'Brien
Duke Center, PA- Coming into their District 9 League Region 3 contest with Otto-Eldred, Bucktail knew they had to contain the Terrors high octane passing attack. Keeping mistakes to a minimum was also key. They failed to do both during the game’s first five minutes of play and found themselves in an irreversible hole.
The Terrors took their opening drive to the house, thanks to the strong arm of 6’2” quarterback Andrew Schenfield. Schenfield capped off the drive with an 8-yard strike to Manning Splain. The try for two was good and Otto-Eldred lead 8-0 within just two and a half minutes of play.
The ensuing kickoff really blew things open for the Terrors and nearly closed the door on the Bucks. The Bucktail coverage team would treat the live ball on the kickoff as if it were a punt. Otto-Eldred swiftly covered it and regained possession.
Schenfield would then deliver a long pass down to the Bucktail 1-yard line. Splain would then score on a 1-yard run. PAT attempt failed, but Otto-Eldred led 14-0 before Bucktail would run a single offensive play.
Once the Bucks finally got a chance to run their offense, Otto-Eldred was ready and forced the Bucks into a punting situation. The Bucktail punter would bobble the ball and be dropped for a loss, turning the ball over on downs.
A 28-yard Andrew Schenfield pass would ensue and extend the lead to 20-0 with still 7:28 remaining in the first quarter.
Another second quarter Terror score extended the lead to 26-0, but Bucktail would strike on a Brody Pentz long touchdown to Braylon Fantaski.
Bucktail would outscore Otto-Eldred 32-26 after falling into the 26-0 hole, but couldn’t overcome the Terrors massive lead.
Brody Pentz would have a pair of long touchdown runs and a touchdown pass to Brett Mason to round out the scoring from Bucktail and set the 52-32 final.
“Otto played a great game and we didn’t come with our best effort.” Sutliff said of the game “When you put those two things together, it never goes well.”
Now 1-2, the Bucks look to get back on track Saturday at Sheffield. Sheffield suffered a 57-0 loss to Elk County Catholic Friday night. The Bucks downed Sheffield 42-12 in week one action. Otto-Eldred improved to 3-1 and will host ECC in a rematch of their 35-30 loss in week one, a game that could determine D9 League Region 3 leaders.
