Barbe had emphasized starting this season on a better foot than last year’s stumble to 1-5 before finally finding its stride to become one of the state’s hottest teams come playoff time.
And the determination showed immediately as the explosive, opportunistic and balanced Buccaneers took just two and a half minutes to snatch a quick two score lead on its way to a 42-15 rout of defending Division-II Non-Select champion Iowa.
“Coming in the whole year, we just had a really good mindset we just had to start off 1-0, 1-0, 1-0, 1-0,” senior quarterback JeLandon Gray said. “That was the main thing because we last year was 1-5. We had to switch it up. We had to change a lot of things. We could not start off 0-1 … You’ve to come out with all the energy, and we had to stay explosive because they’re a good team.”
Senior running back Jordin Griffin popped the third play from scrimmage about 46 yards up the sideline past defenders diving in vain for his legs.
A fumbled Iowa snap two plays later bounced its way favorably into the path of senior linebacker Bo Armstrong for a prime opportunity.
Gray fired a second-down dart into senior wide receiver Chris Rideau to help double the lead to 14-0 in a hurry, and the Buccaneers were essentially off to the races.
“I was not ready for it come out of his hands at all,” Armstrong, who recovered a pair of fumbles, admitted with a smile. “I got lucky, saw the ball. I’m slow. So I didn’t get it fast enough. He pushed me in the back. I did do it twice. I’m gonna have to work on the scooping-and-scoring and stuff, but it’s the greatest feeling in the world giving the ball back to my quarterback.”
Texas Tech-committed Iowa star Kaston Lewis broke loose 61 yards to put the Yellow Jackets on the scoreboard and then ran in the subsequent two-point conversion as well.
But the Buccaneers answered right back with 11-play march that Gray capped with a 18-yard dot dropped into a turning senior receiver Sawyer Kuypers over a defender.
Another pair of Yellow Jackets fumbles, though safely recovered, put them behind the chains and then shy on a fourth down.
And Gray eventually danced his way through and over defenders for an end-zone scamper of his own to push the lead back to 28-8.
“It’s real dangerous,” Gray smiled about the way he and Griffin complement one another in the run game. “After every game we have a coach from the other team be like, ‘Man, it’s so hard to stop y’all two guys.’ In my opinion, we’re the best duo in the backfield in the state. We’ve been like that since second grade. We’ve been playing together since second grade. That’s my cousin. We do everything together, work together. It’s just simple like that. We’ve got such a good chemistry together.”
Iowa had chances midway through the game to scratch right back onto the Buccaneers’ heels with a fourth-down, goal-line touchdown run by Lewis and subsequent defensive stop before halftime with the third-quarter kickoff coming its way.
But Barbe forced a pair of quick three-and-outs after the break, began taking particular control of the clock and then added a dagger as junior tight end Ty Guillory slipped by defenders and secured a slipping, short-yardage touchdown catch from Guillory.
Armstrong scooped up his second fumble recovery on a strip-sack by sophomore Tripp Letson, and Gray and Kuypers connected for another score to stretch the advantage to 42-15.
“That was huge, the second-half turnover,” Barbe coach Dennis “Skeet” Owens said. “They really kinda flipped the field and took the momentum out of it and sealed it for us.”
This article will be further updated…
