By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
COLOMA - Once again Buchanan's football team took it down to the wire to determine a winner.
Friday night at Coloma it was the Bucks holding on for a 34-32 Lakeland Conference win, which improved Buchanan's record to 2-3 and 2-1 in conference play, while Coloma drops to 1-4 and 0-3 in the LAC.
Buchanan drew first blood with a three-yard plunge by Matt Dykema with 4:49 to play in the first quarter. The drive began after Dykema intercepted an Alex Garrod pass at the Coloma 16. Buchanan marched the ball down the field 84 yards for the score. Sophomore running back Marques Hall taking the ball for the first time at the possession this season rumbled 47-yards to help set up the score. Hall finished the night with 112 yards rushing carrying the ball 10 times.
Coloma scored on a one-yard run by Garrod and tied the game at seven with the point after kick by Mike McCoy at 9:59 of the second quarter. Buchanan answered back with a 73 yard drive capped off by another Dykema one-yard score. Jase Andrew second PAT kick of the night split the goal post and the Bucks were back on top 14-7 with six minutes to play in the first half.
A Coloma miscue, a fumble at midfield recovered by Jordan Lee, gave the Bucks another opportunity to stretch their lead in the first half. Buchanan drove the ball 51 yards and Hall scored his first career touchdown on a 10-yard burst up the gut breaking several tackles along the way. Andrews kick put the Bucks up by two touchdown heading into the second half.
Coloma came out fired up to start the second half as Jamie Page broke free down the right sideline for a 69-yard touchdown run and that quick the Comets were back in the game down 21-14 with nearly 11 minutes to play in the third quarter. Buchanan's next drive took an ugly turn for the Buck faithful as Dykema fumbled the ball at the Coloma 40-yard line. The Comets quickly converted the turnover into points as Garrod once again broke several tackles for a 20-yard score. The point after kick was blocked by the Bucks , leaving the Bucks clinging to a one-point lead 21-20.
The Bucks' leading rusher for the night, Shane Collins finishing the game with 120 yards on 20 carries, finished off a 57-yard scoring drive for the Bucks as he bullied his way to a 16-yard scoring run. Andrews continued to hit the PATs and Buchanan gained an eight point lead 28-20 with 5:41 to play in the third quarter.
Forty-one seconds later the Comets were back in the end zone after Garrod connected with Joe Richanrdson for a 62-yard strike and score. This time the Comets PAT run failed as the Buchanan defense held strong keeping the Comets from knotting the score.
Holding on to a two point lead, 28-26, Buchanan took its next drive 56 yards in 10 plays capped off by a two-yard Dykema run with 25 seconds remaining in the third quarter. For the first time, Andrews' kick sailed wide on the PAT and the Bucks lead was eight heading into the final eight minutes of the game.
That's when each team's defense stepped up and shut the door on each other's offense. Dan Toth came up with a interception to stop the Comet's but the Bucks couldn't move the ball and was forced to punt the ball away.
Coloma took the ball over at their 30-yard line with 4:51 to play. The Comets drove the ball down to the two yard line in 10 plays and with 11 seconds to play Tim Bartee danced in for the two-yard score. Coloma's two-point PAT attempt was stopped and the Bucks held on for the 34-32 win.
Coloma gained a total of 471 yards, 363 on the ground and 108 through the air on 5-of-13 passing by Garrod, while picking up 19 first downs and coughed the ball up three times.
The Bucks got all their yard on the ground picking up 371 total yards. Dykema picked up 87 yards on 17 carries to go with his three touchdowns. Eric Cole, coming back after illness kept him out last week, was 0-3 passing put picked up 51 yards important yards for the Bucks. Buchanan finished with 23 first downs and turned the ball over once.
Buchanan will host Edwardsburg next week at Memorial Field with game time at 7:30 p.m.