Bucs tame Tigers for first time since 2009
Published 11:16 pm Friday, September 14, 2018
- Branford running back Aaron McQuay rushed for three touchdowns against Trenton on Friday night.
BRANFORD, Fla. — Scoreless the past five years against Trenton, it didn’t take Branford long to show Friday night was going to be different.
On just the Buccaneers’ second offensive play, Aaron McQuay raced 50 yards for a score and Branford rolled from there on the way to a 40-6 rout of the Tigers at Buccaneer Stadium. It was Branford’s first win against Trenton since 2009.
“They came out angry,” Branford coach Tim Clark said. “They’ve been hitting each other for two weeks and they had this one in their sights.
“We wanted to try and make this thing our game early.”
Prior to that run — the first of three long scores from the senior running back — the Bucs last scored against Trenton in the second quarter in 2012. Since then, Trenton had outscored BHS 258-0.
“We have a mindset of going to the playoffs,” McQuay said. “That’s our mindset right now, so we came out and hit them in the mouth and we just kept running the ball hard.”
The Bucs (2-1) made up for lost time.
| Trenton | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | — | 6 |
| Branford | 21 | 0 | 13 | 6 | — | 40 |
First Quarter
BHS — Aaron McQuay 50 run (Trey White kick).
BHS — Jevin Johnson 1 run (White kick).
BHS — McQuay 61 run (White kick).
Second Quarter
THS — Cole Hafner 3 run (kick blocked).
Third Quarter
BHS — McQuay 62 run (White kick).
BHS — Dakota Hamm 25 pass from Johnson (kick wide right).
Fourth Quarter
BHS — Dakota Stevens 2 fumble return (kick wide right).
| Trenton | Branford | |
| First Downs | 10 | 9 |
| Rush-Yds | 49-150 | 23-214 |
| Passing | 0 | 143 |
| Com-Att-Int | 0-4-1 | 12-19-0 |
| Pen-Yds | 5-25 | 6-45 |
| Fum-Lost | 5-3 | 3-1 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Trenton, Jordan Fulmer 14-67, Hafner 8-26, Tyrese Jackson 9-21, Blake Hall 6-14, Wyatt Lovelace 7-13, Dylan James 3-10, Caleb Morgan 1-2, Quinn Sheets 1-(minus-3). Branford, McQuay 10-221, DJ Hannah 6-15, CJ Pepper 1-4, Team 1-(minus-1), Johnson 5-(minus-25).
PASSING — Trenton, Morgan 0-1-0 0, Lovelace 0-2-0 0, Jackson 0-1-1 0. Branford, Johnson 12-18-0 143, McQuay 0-1-0 0.
REVCEIVING—Branford, Pepper 6-50, Colton Leibold 1-44, Hamm 1-25, McQuay 2-16, Junior Cress 1-11, Trevon White 1-(minus-3).
Facing fourth-and-17 from the Trenton 45 on its next drive, Branford quarterback Jevin Johnson found Colton Leibold behind the defense for 44 yards to set up his own 1-yard scoring run.
McQuay then raced through the 0-4 Tigers’ defense from 61 yards out with 34 seconds left in the first to put the Bucs up 21-0.
Leading 21-6 in the third quarter, McQuay put the finishing touches on his big night with a 62-yard scamper untouched down the left sideline.
The senior finished with 221 yards and the three TDs on just 10 carries.
“We did well but we want to even be better next time,” McQuay said.
Clark added: “He’s a special player and he has some guys blocking their butts off for him too.”
A turnover on Trenton’s next play led to another Buc score and the floodgates opened.
On third-and-3 with 4:35 to go in the third, Johnson hit Dakota Hamm on a 25-yard touchdown to push the lead to 34-6. Johnson completed 12 of 18 passes for 143 yards.
Another Trenton fumble with 8:42 left in the game bounced right into the hands of Branford’s Dakota Stevens at the goalline to make it 40-6.
The Bucs forced four turnovers with Hamm intercepting a pass and Ritchie Glass also recovering one of the Tigers’ three lost fumbles.
“I’ve got confidence in our defense,” Clark said after the Bucs allowed just 150 yards of offense. “I feel like if we have an inch of grass, we’re going to defend it.”
Trenton’s lone score came in closing seconds of the first half when Trenton capped a 14-play, 51-yard drive that melted nearly seven minutes off the clock. Cole Hafner concluded the marathon drive with a 3-yard scoring run on fourth-and-1.
UP NEXT
Branford goes on the road for the first time, traveling to Jacksonville to face Bishop Snyder next Friday.
