No. 1 Buchanan, out-gained but not out-gamed, stays on top by knocking off No. 3 Central
Buchanan High running back Michael Runnels took the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown, getting the Bears off to a sizzling start against the Central Grizzlies during a heavyweight matchup Thursday.
The Bears, No. 1 in The Bee’s Central Section Top 25 rankings, also forced three first-half turnovers, and spent the rest of the game brushing off every counter punch and dodging every haymaker that the third-ranked Grizzlies could throw as Buchanan emerged with a 24-17 victory at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
With the win, Buchanan (6-1, 2-0) took over first place in the Tri-River Athletic Conference while handing Central (5-1, 1-1) its first loss of the season.
“I was really proud of them,” Buchanan coach Matt Giordano said. “They can take a punch and get back up. Some teams take a punch like that and they don’t get back up. Our team did. They took their best shot, and I’ll tell you what, that is a heck of a Central team.
“Coach (Kyle) Biggs does a heck of a job over there, his staff does a great job, and they’re not going away. Like people are predicting, we might see them again. There’s still a long season to go.”
The Grizzlies were there until the final seconds, blocking a field goal with 1:09 remaining that would have given Buchanan a two-score lead. To get there Biggs threw everything the Grizzlies had at the Bears – they attempted to convert seven fourth-down plays in the game including a successful fake punt from their own 20-yard line when down by 10 points in the third quarter; after cutting the deficit to seven, kicker Giovanny Arguello perfectly executed an onside kick to get the football right back.
Central also came up with a big interception by Kaleb Tennison after it had been stopped on a fourth-and-goal play from the 6-yard line. The Grizzlies got the ball back at that point down by seven, 7:31 to go.
But Buchanan barely bent.
The Bears defense, led by Logan Studt (12 tackles including one sack), Gavin Nelson (eight tackles), Kannon Campbell (seven tackles) and Josiah Ayon (seven tackles), forced a three-and-out.
The series came down to a fourth-and-1. Central had some success with its run game behind senior Jesiah Lindsey, who rushed the ball 22 times for 156 yards and one touchdown, Ah’Marion Gaines-Smith, Amarian Hunter and Michael James. They churned out 230 rushing yards, mostly in meaty medium-sized chunks. But Central took another shot there, putting the football in the air. The Bears broke up a pass and took possession at the Grizzlies 29.
“Buchanan got the better of us,” Biggs said. “They won. Hats off to them. They played. They earned it. Like I said, I got out-coached. This goes out to the Buchanan coaches. They did a great job.”
The Bears with the ball and the lead went back to Runnels, who was carrying a much larger load in the offense with starter Caden Rodgers limited by an ankle injury suffered the previous week in a victory over Clovis West.
Runnels on the first play blasted away for 15 yards, had runs of 5 and 3 yards and had a 2-yard touchdown run wiped out by a holding call, before the blocked field goal. He finished the game with 16 carries for 83 yards and caught one pass from quarterback Jayden Mandal for 22 more yards.
He also had the kickoff return, for openers. Not in his wildest dreams, he said. “I didn’t really think I was going to score like that,” Runnels said. “The crowd goes wild. You see a lot of players in front of you. Try to find a hole. A lot of pressure. I didn’t really think it was going to turn out like that, but luckily, it did.”
The Bears were out-gained by Central 382 yards to 264, had 10 fewer first downs and ran 29 fewer plays from scrimmage, but those first points were the difference at the end.
Buchanan now has beaten Central for the second straight time after losing six straight to the Grizzlies previously.
“We know this,” Giordano said. “We’re going to have to celebrate this and luckily it’s on a Thursday so maybe we can celebrate this for a little bit more than 24 hours.
“But we have another tough test next week so we have to learn from our mistakes very fast and apply it next week because I know Clovis High is going to be ready for us and we’ve got to make sure we’ve learned from our mistakes. We stay humble, stay hungry and keep moving forward.”
This story was originally published October 7, 2021 at 11:51 PM.