Tempe came in strong, looked sharp but the chips just didn’t fall their way Friday night at Buckeye Stadium.
With 4 turnovers in the game and a fumbled kickoff return for a touchdown in the middle of the 2nd quarter the momentum swayed from the Buffaloes to the Buckeyes and never came back.
Up early in the 2nd quarter after a Pedro Rubio 15 yard strike to Jake Miranda the Buckeyes (1-2) offense came roaring back with an impressive drive that was capped off with a Troy Ganley 8 yard scramble and dive into the end zone. On the ensuing kickoff John Bautch was stripped at the 19-yard line and Kenny Mayfield recovered the fumble and retuned it for a touchdown.. The Buffaloes (0-2) just couldn’t mount up anymore scoring drives after that and with a 14 yard run by Ryan Taborn towards the tail end of the second quarter the game was out of reach.
Although the Buffaloes didn’t have nearly as many penalties 6 for 45 as the Buckeyes did 15-145 the buffaloes just couldn’t put the ball in the end zone in the second half no matter how hard they tried. With two drives ending on fourth down in the red zone it was only heartbreak for the scrappy Buffaloes. The upside for the Buffaloes was the impressive play of #6 Jake Miranda who caught Tempe’s only touchdown of the game a 15 yard strike from Pedro Rubio and had two key interceptions one in the first half and one in the second to stop the Buckeyes from driving.
Vitals: Host Buckeye beat Tempe 24-7 in a 4A nonregion game.
Highlight: Kenny Mayfield had a 19-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown in the second quarter with the Hawks ahead 10-7 that put the game away.
Player of the game: Buckeye running back Ryan Taborn had 152 yards rushing on 21 carries and a touchdown.
Key stat: Jacob Miranda scored the only touchdown of the game for the Buffaloes on a 15-yard reception and also had two interceptions on defense.
