By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Savannah built a 14-0 lead in the first seven minutes, led 24-7 at halftime and were then shut out in the second half, but held on for a 24-19 win over defending Class 1 state champion East Buchanan at Savannah High School Friday night.
It was the first meeting between the two schools in football since 1958, and the win gives Savannah its first 2-0 start since 2014 and breaks what was a nine-game win streak for East Buchanan dating back to last season.
"When you play the defending state champs and the No. 1 team in the state, they're that way for a reason," Savannah head coach Anthony Hays said. " Just happy our guys found a way to win. I don't think classification matters in this game. (East Buchanan) has a bunch of dudes. I think that's a quality win. I don't care if they're Class 1 or 6, that's a good football team."
East Buchanan won the toss and elected to receive, and after achieving one first down, the Bulldogs' drive stalled around midfield with a turnover on downs.
Savannah got the scoring started seven plays later with a 26-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Ethan Dudeck to fellow senior Alex Hopper, making it 7-0 Savages with 6:19 left in the first quarter.
Just three plays later, disaster struck for East Buchanan, as senior Truman Bodenhausen jumped a route, picked off Bulldogs' quarterback Gage Busby and went 36 yards the other way for a pick-six, putting the Savages up 14-0 in less than seven minutes.
"I was proud of how we started," Hays said. "I wanted our team to come out here and prove a point that Savannah is on the map and we want to go and play with a team like that. A team that is a top tier team. So, I was proud we had that mentality."
Busby threw two first quarter interceptions, but East Buchanan's defense came up with a stop after the second one, and the Bulldogs had the ball to start the second quarter.
East Buchanan then strung together an eight-play, 68-yard drive - capped off by a 20-yard touchdown run by junior running back Trevor Klein to get East Buchanan on the board and make it a 14-7 game with 9:07 left in the second quarter.
On Savannah's ensuing drive, the Savages kept the ball on the ground and were aided by a multitude of East Buchanan penalties. On the tenth rushing play of the drive, junior running back Cade Chappell found the end zone from three yards out to give Savannah a 21-7 lead with 3:49 left in the first half.
The Savages got the ball back again with 1:02 left in the second quarter, and got inside the East Buchanan 10-yard line, but settled for a 23-yard field goal from Dudeck to go up 24-7 at the break.
The East Buchanan defense came up with a big stop to start the second half, forcing Savannah into a three-and-out to open the third quarter.
It took the East Buchanan offense a little while to get going in the second half, as the Bulldogs took over on their own 34 with 2:02 left in the third quarter and still trailing 24-7.
Driving into Savannah territory, the Bulldogs put up the first points of the second half on the first play of the fourth quarter. Klein got a pitch from Busby, rolled right, took a hit as he threw and found senior Adam Stephen-Enges open in the end zone on a 30-yard touchdown pass.
The point-after try from Alec Hesson missed, but the score was now 24-13 Savannah with 11:52 remaining.
The Savannah offense had three total drives in the fourth quarter. They achieved only one first down, punted it twice and it turned it over on downs on one drive, giving East Buchanan life late.
The Bulldogs got to within one score with 2:26 left when Busby hit Carson White on a 36-yard touchdown pass. The ensuing two-point try failed, but thanks to a Savannah penalty on the Savages' next drive, and two remaining East Buchanan timeouts, the Bulldogs got the ball back on their own 19 with 1:46 left.
Two false start penalties backed them up inside their own 10, but a 21-yard completion to Stephen-Enges and a 23-yard catch by Klein got the Bulldogs moving, as they made it all the way to the Savannah 41 with less than 50 seconds left.
East Buchanan's fate was sealed, however, when Busby threw a deep ball over the middle, which was picked off by Savannah's Sawyer Sprague.
The Savages found a way, but Hays would like to see smoother finishes going forward.
"Obviously, a lot of things to fix down the stretch," he said. "We need to learn to finish if we want to be a team that makes a deep run this year. To see Sawyer make that play, I was very happy for him...there's a lot of things we need to do moving forward to be a better football team."
The Bulldogs finished with three turnovers and had 14 penalties for 105 yards, including six encroachment penalties on defense. Savannah was called on nine penalties for 85 yards, but remained turnover free.
Chappell led the Savages on the ground with 29 carries for 88 yards and a touchdown. Dudeck was 5-of-9 for 72 yards and a score. Hopper hauled in four passes for 44 yards and a touchdown.
Micah McFadden had a big night for Savannah defensively with a sack and an INT.
Klein finished with 227 all-purpose yards on offense for East Buchanan. He rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. He had three catches for 65 yards and threw a 30-yard touchdown pass.
Busby finished 11-of-23 through the air for 171 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions. Stephen-Enges caught six passes for 90 yards and a score.
East Buchanan is home to North Platte next week, while Savannah heads to Kirksville.
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