The Boyd Buchannan offense is as inventive as any one will see at the prep level, and during Boyd’s 48-13 win over rival Notre Dame, quarterback Eli Morris showed why he is the perfect quarterback to run coach Jeremy Bosken’s point-producing scheme. The signal-caller finished the night with 311 yards passing and 115 on the ground to lead the Bucs to a 48-13 rout of the Irish.
“We tell him he’s our quarterback because we want the ball in other people’s hands, and he does a great job of getting the ball to our playmakers and letting them do their thing,” coach Bosken said.
It was an eventful, if drawn out, first quarter, full of highlight plays and incomplete passes. Notre Dame drew first blood, with the initial score set up by flanker George Fillauer, who lined up on the outside on quarterback Bennet Brinson’s left. He ran a violent slant, breaking inward right before catching the ball. He exploded forward after the catch, slipping a tackle and ripping into the endzone for an 82 yard catch and run.
However, the rest of the half was dominated by Boyd Buchannan and their electrifying spread offense. On any given play, Morris could keep the ball on an option, flip the ball forward on a shovel pass, sprint to the sideline, or fire passes to the sidelines or deep downfield. After the Bucs had established a horizontal game off the run-pass option, they capitalized on a moment of indecision by an uncertain Irish defense. Halfback Matthew Stone kept the ball and ping-ponged through the interior of Notre Dame’s defense.
Things only got worse for Notre Dame as JaMichael McGoy began to put his imprint on the game. The versatile returner/receiver/defensive started a drive with an interception with 2:48 left in the quarter. He ended it by racing downfield from the slot and catching a pass after Notre Dame bit on the screen-fake. His touchdown made it 14-7 to end the quarter.
If Boyd Buchanan’s offense resembles basketball on grass, then that made Morris the Ja Morant of Hamilton County. He started the second quarter with a quarterback keeper, slipping up the middle for an easy score. After yet another round of incomplete Notre Dame passes and runs that went nowhere, Boyd Buchanan took but one play to make the score 28-7.
From their familiar spread, Morris sprinted to his right. As a threat to run up the sideline, the Irish were forced to creep up toward the line of scrimmage. This action left Karson Gay unattended in the slot, who had one of the easier 45 yard scores one will see in high school football. During Boyd Buchanan’s next possession, Morris accounted for his third score of the half when he shoveled the ball to slot receiver Carter Wamack, who was jetting across his face from right to left. 24 utilized excellent blocking to make it a 28 point game with four minutes left in the half.
Right before this, Notre Dame’s quarterback left the game with an injury. Because of this unfortunate event, the Irish were forced to turn to a formation that invoked memories of fellow Irishman Knute Rockne. Running out of the single-wing, Jalen Hagood, Fillauer, and Khalil Spence took turns spinning and faking as they took Notre Dame’s home crowd back to the sport’s near-forgotten roots. Thanks to the clock-chewing abilities of the formation, and a timely defensive stop by Notre Dame’s defense, they exited the half with the score still 35-7.
“It’s coach Fant, and that’s what he’s good at,” coach Bosken said about being prepared for that throwback formation. “You always have to respect what he’s done in the past, and he’s really good at it. So we try to prepare for everything.”
The second half went almost as quickly as it arrived. After Morris followed his left guard into the endzone for yet another touchdown, the mercy rule went into effect and a running clock was maintained. Boyd Buchannan scored their final touchdown of the day with approximately three minutes remaining in the third. McGoy lined up in the slot and set up to receive a screen pass from Morris, but was met by a herd of defenders.
In order to circumvent the defensive swarm, he jerked inside for a second. When the defense made their way toward the interior, 8 swung back outside, utilized slick blocking by his fellow receivers, and tip-toed his way down the left sideline for an 11 yard score. Now down 48-7, Notre Dame could have folded. Instead, they gave their home fans something to cheer about.
After a long return down the sideline by receiver Charlie Menham, Notre Dame went on one last great drive. Back in the game after his pre-halftime absence, Brinson directed the offense down the field. This drive culminated in a lofted fade to the right corner of the endzone, where Filllauer snagged his second touchdown of the game. While he finished with 118 yards and those two scores, Buchannan’s adjustment after his first long six-pointer prevented at least 118 more yards worth of receptions.
“Those are the best four defensive quarters we’ve played all year,” coach Bosken said. “23 (Fillauer) is a great football player for them, and he beat us by a slant early. It was just one adjustment we made, where we would widen the linebacker just a little bit to take away the slant. That adjustment, and us getting more pressure on him, made the quarterback scramble more and that’s what we wanted him to do..”
That touchdown at the ten-minute mark concluded the scoring for the night. Morris finished his night having accounted for six of Boyd Buchannan’s seven touchdowns. Most of the starters were pulled for the last few drives, and backup QB Mason Ratchford came in and directed the second-string offense to close the game.
“Honestly, we don’t even view them as backups. They’re part of the normal rotation and we trust them just like we trust anyone else on the team,” coach Bosken said. “Seeing Carter Womack and all of them with the ball in their hands, we expect them to do that on a regular basis.”
With the win, Boyd Buchannan moves to 3-4 on the season, while Notre Dame falls to 1-7.
BOYD BUCHANNAN 48, NOTRE DAME 13
BOYD BUCHANNAN 14 21 13 0 -- 48
NOTRE DAME 7 0 0 6 – 13
1st quarter
ND Bennet Brinson 82 yard pass to George Fillauer
BB Stone 8 yard run
BB Eli Morris 24 yard pass to JaMichael McGoy
2nd quarter
BB Eli Morris 10 yard run
BB Eli Morris 45 yard pass to Karson Gay
BB Eli Morris 12 yard pass to Carter Wamack
3rd quarter
BB Eli Morris 2 yard run
BB Eli Morris 11 yard pass to JaMichael McGoy
4th quarter
ND Bennet Brinson 10 yard pass to George Fillauer