By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
BRIDGMAN – Big plays equals a big win for the Buchanan on the road at Bridgman Friday night in a lopsided 47-0 Lakeland Conference win.
Buchanan, which sealed a playoff berth last week with a shut out of River Valley, had little trouble with the Bees scoring against Bridgman on its first seven tries.
"Tonight was a good win for us," Buchanan coach Joe Austin said. "Bridgman is not a bad team, I like their coach and he does a good job with these kids. We had them a little out-manned tonight and we had a little patience. It was windy out here and I wanted to use a little spread. My security blanket was the T-formation and I jumped into it and Clinton (Orr) and Marquis (Hall) are outstanding backs and I thought the offensive line did an great job and Taylor (Oake) really threw a beautiful pass to Jon (Mondschein). So it was a great end to the regular season win for the Bucks and we are excited now on Sunday night who we play in the playoffs. By golly we want to make a little noise in this run, we have some good kids here. I think we can play with anyone."
Five of the Buchanan touchdowns were on the first play of scrimmage, which accounted for 283 of their 459 total yards of offense in the game. Clinton Orr surpassed the 1,000 yard rushing mark by racking up 215 yards on the ground on seven carries.
Orr had touchdown runs of 12, 31, 63, and 87 as the Bridgman defense couldn't get a hold of the speedy running back for the Bucks.
Also pounding the ball into the end zone was Marquis Hall on a 61 yard run down the sideline to finish the night with 96 yards rushing.
Drew Medlin scored his first touchdown of the season on a 35 yard burst to finish the night with 75 rushing yards.
Quarterback Taylor Oake threw one pass in the game and it was a 37-yard strike to Jon Mondschein for a touchdown.
Buchanan took a 27-0 lead into the locker room at the half. Buchanan kicker Josh Borr hit 5-of-7 of his extra-point attempts.
The Bridgman offense was held to just 150 yards on the ground and gave up 42 yards through the air. Buchanan's Mondschein and David Sololowski each came up with a interception off Bee quarterback Nick Sweet who finished the night 3-of-13 with two interceptions and 42 yards.
The Bucks second string team once again got some important playing time in the second half as the Bucks opened up a 40-0 lead with 10 minutes to play in the third quarter. That started a running clock with the mercy rule in effect.
Buchanan 7 20 20 0 – 47
Bridgman 0 0 0 0 – 0
B – Clinton Orr 12 run (Josh Borr kick)
B – Orr 31 run (Borr kick)
B – Taylor Oake 37 pass Jon Mondschein (kick failed)
B – Drew Medlin 35 run (Borr kick)
B – Orr 63 run (Borr kick)
B – Marquis Hall 63 run (kick failed)
B – Orr 87 run (Borr kick)