BUCHANAN — Buchanan’s football team knows a thing or two about making recoveries, and in its 26-18 win over Saugatuck, plenty were made.

The team stepped on the field and demonstrated the beginning of a possible recovery under the guidance of first-year head coach Mark Frey in his first season.

“The guys have bought into what we’ve been asking them to do,” Frey said. “This community is great. They deserve this win. I can’t be any more happy for them and let us spring forward to the future here.”

The Bucks earned their second win of the season, which already puts them ahead of their past two seasons of 1-8.

The recoveries started early. The Bucks, after they fumbled on their own one-yard line, got the ball right back. Two plays later, Saugatuck fumbled on its possession, which was recovered by the Bucks defensive lineman Stone Fox on the four-yard line.

Buchanan scored on a one-yard run from junior Keeghan Pelley to start with a six-point lead against Saugatuck.

Saugatuck came back in the second quarter with an early field goal.

The Bucks found the end zone for the second time of the night after going 57 yards on seven plays. Buchanan’s quarterback, Levi Zelmer, connected with running back Johnny Rager for a 17-yard touchdown catch.

Another part of the Bucks’ improvement comes in the form of Rager, a junior on the team, who earned three touchdowns in the team’s previous win over Parchment and two against Saugatuck. This will be Rager’s second year on varsity.

“Johnny’s been doing great. He’s been stepping up making big plays,” Frey said. “He gets in there and makes it happen every time he gets the ball, so I can’t be prouder of him.”

Getting in there can be the hard part though, as Frey said his system of play involves lots of rotating on offense.

“We tell them, ‘you may only get three carries, but you better make it worth your count,’” Frey said.

In the fourth quarter, Saugatuck got its first touchdown of the game, but Rager made his time count as he intercepted quarterback Keiran Boerema’s pass and ran the ball into the end zone for a 39-yard score.

“I just saw it coming in the air, and Dedrick [Adkerson] led me all the way,” Rager said.

Four minutes later, Boerema connected with Tommy Beckman for another Saugatuck touchdown.

With one fumble of their own, which Saugatuck recovered, Frey said holding onto the ball is something the team needs to improve on.

“We try to get the ball every play in practice. We tell them get to the party,” he said. “They do a good job of that. In terms of our ball security, we just got to hold onto things a little bit better and tighten things up especially in clutch situations we need to hold onto it.”

Even with bumps and bruises along the way, as Frey called it, he said his team fought hard against a Saugatuck’s tough offense. A strong Saugatuck defense in the third quarter forced the Bucks to take two field goal attempts — both completed by Logan Grwinski, which kept Buchanan ahead.

“Especially, in the red zone, we need to clean it up and score more points,” Frey said.

Moving forward, Frey wants to push the team to be their best every day, and will continue to do just that, he said.

Rager said the team will focus on the individual games for the rest of the season. He hopes to go 5-4, make it to playoffs and win the conference.

As Rager confirmed, having Frey’s positive attitude around the team is making a difference.

“He never lets us down,” Rager said.