Trending
SHADYSIDE -- Buckeye Local took major steps forward in Week 2 after a disappointing offensive showing against Bellaire in its opener.
The Panthers finished with better than 250 yards of total offense and accounted for 21 points, including an 8-carry, 104 yard effort from Alex McDiffitt.
While Buckeye still lost on the road to Union local, 42-21, the game was tight through three quarters, with the Panthers' final TD cutting the Jets lead to 28-21 before the hosts pulled away late.
"In my opinion, UL is a playoff team and will make a run and it was a (single score) game pretty much the entire third quarter," Buckeye Local head coach Chris Kiediasch said. 'They have some good athletes who made some plays and we couldn't keep up.
"We got bogged down on offense a bit, but I'm proud of how hard our guys played. We've played eight quarters of hard football, but were a bit outmatched the last couple of weeks and we started to wear down late into the games.
"But our guys didn't give up."
Buckeye's road show continues for one more week as Kiedaisch and comapny travel down Ohio state Route 7 to Shadyside to take on a Tigers team coming off a tough 21-19 loss to Shenandoah at home.
Like Buckeye, the Tigers are also 0-2, also owning a humbling 56-7 loss to Martins Ferry in Week 1. Kiedaish isn't about to count out the Tigers, however. It's a proud program with great tradition and its ability to bounce back and held a talented Zeps' offense to 21 points speaks volumes.
He also knows the Tigers were without a few key offensive cogs vs. the Purple Riders.
"They have a young and talented team," Kiedaisch noted. "The Ferry game was misleading. The (Cole) Micker kid was not dressed, and (Jayden) Johnson got hurt on the third and fourth play. The game was on TV, but what people remember is not a good inidcator of how good Shadyside is."
Johnson returned vs. Shenandoah and nearly led the Tigers to victory. Kiedaisch is also impressed with the running of sophomore Ace Nelson who logged a number of impressive runs vs. the Zeps' defense.
"I was impressed with, despite how young Shadyside is, the amount of things they did on offense in terms of different schemes. The Micker kid is a weapon and Nelson, No. 22, runs hard."
One thing that impressed Kiedaisch about his own team is the improved play from its offensive line from Week 1 to 2, especially against a large and physical Jets' front wall.
The Panthers will have the size and experience advantage Friday at Fleming Field and Kiedaisch hopes that will lead to success in the run game.
"I think we are a little bigger and more experienced and we'll try to lean on that throughout the game," he said. "Some of our seniors hav ebeen playing 30-plus football games.
"Our backs ran a lot harder in terms of trusting the holes will be there and did a good job of executing the game plan. We threw in some additional wrinkles and they picked it up pretty well."
Led by McDiffitt, Buckeye finished with 149 yards on 22 carries, good for 6.8 yards per carry and two touchdowns.
Xavier Eastham tacked on the other rushing touchdown.
McDiffitt passed for 30 yards but the passing game received a momentary boost when Grant Dombroski completed a 76-yard scoring strike to Haydn Boyce.
The UL game came down to the Jets making a big play or two late in the game, and the Panthers' staff is preaching -- and they players are getting it-- that those few extra plays can make the difference.
"There's more fight, more competing to win in practice, and the more we do that, the better chance of winning," Kiedaisch said. "We are preaching now that to get over the hump we have to come together and just maybe make those three or four extra plays that can make the difference."
The time to win is now. While the good news of Buckeye returning to World War II Memorial next week is a nice bonus after three weeks on the road, the home opener will be against undefeated and highly talented Barnesville.