Max Ehrich runs the ball hard for the Bucs during their 2018 Homecoming game against Martin County West. Ehrich, along with his many BEA Buccaneer teammates, demolished the MCW Mavericks 42-0.

It was Homecoming for the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers and the football team celebrated by notching their first victory of the season, shutting out the Martin County West Mavericks by a score of 42-0.

BEA dominated on both sides of the ball, amassing 401 yards on offense while the defense held the Mavericks to just 59 total yards.

“The team performed well tonight,” said Coach Randy Kuechenmeister. “Our execution was better, our offensive line got on people and stayed on them and were more aggressive.”

BEA kicked off and their defense went to work pushing MCW backwards. The Mavericks lost 13 yards in their first three plays resulting in a punt from their own 18-yard line.

The resulting punt gave the Buccaneers excellent field position at the MCW 39-yard line.

Max Ehrich again with a thought-out fall.

It only took six plays for BEA to find the end zone. Two straight runs by running back Max Ehrich advanced the ball to the 19-yard line. Quarterback Hunter Bleess appeared to score on the next play, but a holding penalty against the Bucs negated the touchdown and put the ball on the 26-yard line.

Four more runs by Ehrich, the last one from the five-yard line, resulted in a Buccaneer touchdown and a 6-0 lead with 7:26 left in quarter number one. The PAT kick was no good.

The next scoring drive for the Bucs would only take one play.

BEA forced MCW to punt in the early stages of the second quarter. The resulting kick had the Bucs starting their drive from the Mavericks’ 48-line. On the Bucs’ first play of the drive, Max Ehrich took the handoff up the middle and then sprinted to his left, pulling away from defenders running down the sideline and into the end zone for a Buccaneer touchdown. Ehrich then crossed the goal line again for a successful 2-point conversion giving the Bucs a 14-0 lead with 11:30 remaining in the first half.

MCW returned the ensuing kick off 25 yards to start their next possession from their own 46-yard line. A 34-yard run by their quarterback moved the ball down to the Buccaneer 20-yard line.

Three plays later the Mavericks had advanced the ball to the 6-yard setting up a first down and goal to go.

BEA thwarted the Maverick scoring attempt when Anders Fering intercepted a pass in the end zone to give the Buccaneers a touchback at the MCW 20-yard line.

The Buccaneers took 10 plays to march the length of the field to add another touchdown. The biggest play of the drive came on a run by Bleess of 24 yards that moved the ball down to the MCW 20-yard line. A personal foul at the end of the play put the ball on the 10-yard line.

Ehrich gained the first nine yards to set up a one yard scoring run by Bleess. The resulting touchdown followed, by a failed two-point conversion, gave BEA a 20-0 lead with 3:52 left on the clock in the first half.

It didn’t take long for the Bucs to strike again. Two plays into the Mavericks next drive Buccaneer cornerback Cameron Anderson intercepted a pass at the BEA 44-line and returned it 37 yards to the MCW 19-yard line.

It took four plays for BEA to add to their lead, with Ehrich covering the final nine yards to score the touchdown. Brayden Barnett’s kick was good and the Buccaneers went into half time leading the Mavericks by a score of 27-0.

BEA engineered a five play, 50-yard drive in the third quarter and added a two-point conversion to build their lead to 35-0.

Since BEA held a lead of 35 points at the start of the fourth quarter, the rest of the game was played with running time. This means the clock is stopped for any time-outs (team or official) and after scoring plays, until the ensuing kickoff.

Jaxen Klinkner added one more touchdown in the fourth quarter with Brayden Barnett adding the successful PAT kick to make the final score 42-0.

Ehrich led all rushers with 167 yards on 22 attempts and four touchdowns. Bleess added 65 yards on 10 attempts and Klinkner rushed the ball nine times for 64 yards.

Bleess completed four passes out of nine attempts. Anderson and Caelan Sanders each hauled in two passes gaining 20 and 39 yards respectively.

The defense was led by Ehrich who recorded four tackles and a sack. Anderson and Fering each had an interception.

Blue Earth Area traveled to St. James to face the Windom Eagles on Sept. 28. The contest was held in St. James due to the flooding that occurred to Windom’s football field this summer. Results of that contest will appear in next week’s edition of the Faribault County Register.