Extra points made the difference in the game as the Briarwood Academy junior varsity Buccaneers fell to Curtis Baptist School 20-18 last week in a misting rain on a water-soaked field at Briarwood.
"It was just a sloppy, nasty game ... fun for the kids. Only the true fans and parents were out there," Coach Kenny Haney said.
The game proved to be a costly one for the JV Bucs as they lost eighth grade team leader Cody Ewest early in the game when he took a hit on a knee. Ewest, who was a leading tackler and ground gainer for the JV Bucs, will be out for the remainder of the season as will sixth grader Dalton Reese who also suffered a leg injury.
The JV Bucs drew first blood early in the first quarter when eighth grade halfback Matthew McElveen broke some tackles and then outran the remaining Crusaders on a 25-yard TD romp. The extra point attempt, normally kicked by the injured Ewest, failed.
Curtis immediately destroyed the Bucs momentum by running back the ensuing kickoff for a TD and adding a two-point conversion to take the lead 8-6.
The teams swapped the ball until late in the fourth when McElveen scored on a 40-yard screen pass from quarterback Garrett Mohr. Again, the PAT attempt failed, and the Bucs led 12-8 at the half.
Curtis scored twice in the third quarter, both times on long runs to E.J. Bijur. They failed to make the PAT's and went into the fourth quarter with a 20-12 lead.
Late in the fourth, the JV Bucs drove the length of the field with Mohr scoring on a 12 yard run on bootleg pass option. The Bucs tried the same play to tie the game at 20-20, but Mohr was tackled on the one-yard line.
Curtis took the kickoff with less than a minute left in the game and ran the clock out for the 20-18 win.
In their final game of the 2005 season, the JV Bucs will play host to Augusta Christian at 6 p.m. today.
