By TOMMY REZAC and MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
FAUCETT - Mid-Buchanan (10-0) scored touchdowns on their first six possessions of the game, and had a pair of defensive scores in the third quarter, as the Dragons rolled to a 56-6 win over Plattsburg in a Class 1 District 8 quarterfinal in Faucett Friday.
The Dragons led 28-0 by the end of the first quarter and were ahead comfortably, 42-0, by halftime.
"I think the goal tonight was to come out sharp and play well," Mid Buchanan head coach Aaron Fritz said. "Get in, play as well as we can and see if we can get out of here healthy, and I thought we accomplished that."
Mid-Buchanan did all of their offensive damage in the first half. The Dragons won the toss and elected to receive. It took them just three plays to score on their opening drive.
Junior Xavier Arambula ran for 56 yards down the sideline to give the Dragons an early 6-0 lead just 1:15 into the game.
Plattsburg (1-9) punted on four of their first five possessions. The one where they didn't punt ended in a turnover on downs.
Senior quarterback Rawlins Brant, who's worked his way back from an ankle injury against East Buchanan three weeks ago, looked like his old self Friday, as he engineered a 6-play, 63-yard march and ended it with a four-yard touchdown run on first and goal to put the Dragons up 13-0 halfway through the first.
Brant would then find fellow senior Blake Hunter on touchdown throws of four and 57 yards on the next two drives. A Jackson Sauvage two-point run made it 28-0 Dragons by the end of the first.
Arambula had touchdown runs of seven and 10 yards in the second quarter, giving the Dragons a 42-0 halftime lead.
Arambula finished with 120 yards on eight carries and three touchdowns. Brant finished with 188 all-purpose yards, 130 through the air and 58 on the ground, and three all-purpose scores.
Mid-Buchanan finished with 346 yards of offense, compared to just 99 by Plattsburg.
The Tigers got the ball to start the second half, but senior quarterback Brock Steggall threw a pick-six on the second play from scrimmage in the third quarter, and Hunter took it back 24 yards for the score, putting the Dragons ahead 49-0 less than two minutes into the second half.
Just three plays later, junior Clancey Woodward jumped a slant route and got a pick-six of his own, this one going for 20 yards, to put Mid-Buchanan ahead 56-0 midway through the third.
"You never know when your last game is going to be," Fritz said. "We told the starters, 'We'll let you have a drive on defense (to start the second half),' and then we get the pick-six right away. So, then they were like, 'Aww man, can we get one more?' And I went, 'Nope. You guys stand over here.' Clancey (Woodward) is still new to football. So, we let him stay out there, and that was a great play. Jumped the route and did a really nice job."
Mid-Buchanan touched the ball for just four plays in the second half. Plattsburg strung together a drive that nearly lasted seven minutes late in the third.
Aided by a couple of Dragon penalties, senior Nathan Bash scored on a 40-yard touchdown run to put Plattsburg on the board, 56-6, with 20 seconds left in the third. Jackson Sauvage blocked the point-after attempt by Jackson Lewis.
The Dragons had one drive in the third quarter that resulted in three-and-out. Plattsburg had a couple of possessions in the fourth, but didn't come close to scoring on either of them.
That sets up the Battle of the Buchanans - round two, postseason edition, next week. The No. 3 seed Bulldogs (9-1) defeated Carrollton soundly Friday, 42-0, in Gower in the other quarterfinal.
The Dragons beat East Buchanan in the regular season, 28-21, on October 8 in Faucett. The two teams now get a rematch on Friday, Nov. 5 in Faucett, in the district semifinals.
"It was one of the all-time best games I've been a part of last time," Fritz said. "I know it's going to be a great battle again and we're going to have to come out and play a little bit cleaner and a little bit better if we're going to have a chance to win."
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post.