Bison rally for win

SWOOPE — After falling behind fourteen-points early, the Buffalo Gap Bison used a stingy and opportunistic defense to shut out visiting Wilson Memorial for the rest of the way for a 27-14 victory.

After forcing Buffalo Gap to punt on the first drive of the game, the Hornets quickly put Gap in a hole as quarterback Jake Bailey found tight end Weston Cash open down the right sideline for a 49-yard touchdown pass with 10:18 to go in the first quarter.

The Bison were again forced to punt and Wilson widend the lead as the team used a series of runs to move the ball down field on a 16-play, 75-yard scoring drive that ended when freshman running back Malik Rucks found the end zone from 16 yards out making the score 14-0.

“You have to give a lot of credit to Wilson. They came out and smacked us right in the mouth to start the ball game,” Buffalo Gap coach Rob Maxwell said after the game. “They got a big play on the first play of the ball game and it took the wind right out of our sails and I don’t think we recovered until about three series later.”

The hangover from the two early scores did linger momentarily as the next Bison drive ended with a turnover as Cash made a play on the defensive side of the ball intercepting a Trevor Campbell pass giving the Hornets an even greater momentum swing. That, however, would be the last time the ball bounced the Hornets’ way.

The Bison defense held and the offense came to life as the team would go on a 71-yard drive ending with and Matt Wenger five-yard touchdown run with 1:55 left in the first half cutting the Wilson lead to 14-7 at the half.

Wilson’s first drive of the second half was halted when senior defensive back Casey Lewis intercepted a Bailey pass giving the ball back over to Trevor Campbell and the Gap offense. And three plays would be all that Campbell would need, running three times for 40 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown run to tie the game at fourteen with 8:43 to play in the third.

The real turning point in the game would come on the next series as senior defensive back Travis Hale intercepted Bailey at the Bison 35 and returned it 65 yards for the touchdown.

“One of the linemen tipped the ball and it was just flopping around and I thought to myself I’ve got to catch this, I mean this is my job,” Hale said after the game. “This is what I’m out there to do.”

The Gap defense would capitalize on another Wilson turnover as Matt Wenger recovered a bad snap in the end zone putting the Gap lead at 27-14 with 5:48 to play in the game. A nice punt by Dalton Vetter had backed Wilson up to their own five-yard line.

“Our defense just really responded in the second-half, a proud Maxwell said. “Our guys made some big plays out their tonight. The interceptions by Lewis and Hale were huge.”

Wilson falls to 2-1 and the win gets Gap their first win of the year as they improve to 1-2 for the season.