Buchanan wins section 1-2 showdown in lightning-shortened game at Liberty-Bakersfield
The question of which high school football team is No. 1 in the Central Section is far from decided, but for now, Buchanan can claim the spot.
The Bears traveled to Bakersfield on Friday night and beat Liberty-Bakersfield 35-27 in a nonleague game shortened because of lightning.
The teams will swap places atop The Bee’s Top 25 rankings, but serious tests loom Friday when Buchanan plays at No. 3 San Joaquin Memorial and Liberty plays at No. 6 Central.
Buchanan has beaten Liberty in four of the last six meetings, but the two losses were in the playoffs. Liberty is the defending section Division I champion.
Friday’s matchup didn’t disappoint except for the early ending.
“It’s not ideal; it’s not what we wanted,” first-year Buchanan coach Ross Wood told The Bakersfield Californian.
Wood added, “We got punched in the mouth at the start by a good football team. It’s not an easy feat to come back from being down 14, but the kids battled and showed they had a lot of heart.”
The Bears (4-0) trailed 14-0 in the first quarter before scoring touchdowns on five straight possessions. Michael Runnels scored on a 50-yard run and Augustus Remlinger had a 51-yard TD run. Roman Fries’ interception stopped a Patriots drive and Jayden Mandal’s 46-yard touchdown pass to Giovanni Chiaramonte gave Buchanan a 35-14 lead.
Liberty answered with two touchdowns in less than two minutes before the game was stopped — first a 30-minute lightning delay, then the game was called when officials saw more lightning with 10:59 left in the fourth quarter.
Mandal, a Fresno State commit, was 18 of 23 passing for 242 yards and accounted for two touchdowns (pass and run).
This story was originally published September 10, 2022 at 11:08 AM.
