BEA’s Noah Johnson was off to the races in the second half of the game against Central.

For the first 30 minutes of the football clash on Friday, Oct. 14, between the host Blue Earth Area Buccaneers and the Central of Norwood Young America Raiders, it appeared the team who had the ball last would be the victor in the game. The two teams, who each entered the contest with identical 5-1 records, had traded touchdowns up to that point with the Raiders holding a 21-20 lead.

However, Raiders’ quarterback Noah Strickfaden’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Tanner Neubarth with 6:02 remaining in the third quarter was the last time the visitors would cross their goal line as the Bucs’ defense shut down the Raiders’ prolific offense for the rest of the game.

Meanwhile, like a hot knife cutting through butter, the Maroon and Gold offense continued to carve through the Central defense. The result was 32 unanswered points for the Bucs and a 52-21 triumph over the Raiders.

“We maybe out-thought ourselves in the first half by changing our defensive formations to try and stop their offense,” BEA defensive coordinator Travis Armstrong said. “We went back to what has worked for us in the past and the guys stepped up and did the job.”

The BEA offense certainly did their job by amassing a total of 575 yards on offense, including 448 on the ground. Three Bucs, Parker Meyers, Noah Johnson and Ashton Lloyd, each rushed for at least 100 yards during the game.

The Raiders opened the game on offense and needed less the two and a half minutes to take the lead. Strickfaden completed a 24-yard touchdown pass which coupled with the extra-point kick staked the Raiders to a 7-0 lead with 9:33 to go in the first quarter.

BEA responded with a 13-play drive covering 65 yards with Parker Meyers rushing the ball in from one yard out. The extra-point kick sailed to the left of the uprights so the Raiders held a 7-6 lead with 2:37 remaining in the opening stanza.

Central extended their lead on the first play of the second quarter on a 10-yard Strickfaden touchdown pass to Hunter Neubarth. The kick was good and the visitors held a 14-6 lead with 11:54 left in the half.

Starting their next drive on the Central 20-yard line, BEA engineered a drive which consumed over six and a half minutes on the clock and ended with Meyers taking the ball in from three yards for his second touchdown of the game. The Bucs’ two-point attempt failed and Central led BEA 14-12 with 5:20 left in the half.

The Buccaneer defense forced the Raiders to turn the ball over on downs on the ensuing drive to give the BEA offense a chance to score before the end of the half. However, a holding penalty against the home team killed the Bucs’ drive so the Raiders took a two-point lead into the intermission.

BEA began the second half with the ball on their own 35-yard line after Central’s kick-off sailed out of bounds.

Faced with a third down and needing five yards for a first down, Lloyd connected with Abe Kokos for a pass completion to the BEA 49-yard line.

Another pass, this time to Meyers, moved the ball into Raiders’ territory at the 33-yard line. A 21-yard run around left end by Johnson put the ball at the 12. The Bucs moved the ball to the three-yard line and then went to a “heavy” formation with Meyers carrying the ball in for his third TD of the game. He then ran the ball in for a 2-point conversion and a 20-14 BEA lead.

After the Raiders had retaken the lead at 21-20, Colton Hubly returned the ensuing kickoff all the way to the Central 47-yard line. BEA needed only one play to score as Meyers broke loose for a 47-yard touchdown run. Meyers then ran the ball in for the 2-point conversion to put the Bucs on top 28-21 with 5:28 remaining in the third quarter.

Central took over on their own 32 following the kickoff and three incomplete passes later were forced to punt the ball back to the Bucs.

BEA started their next drive from their own 34-yard line. After a five-yard run by Meyers, Lloyd hit the running back in stride on a bubble pass and Meyers advanced the ball to the Raiders’ 34-yard line. The drive ended with Lloyd crossing the goal line from 10 yards out. Another two-point conversion run by Meyers had BEA on top 36-21 with 1:48 left in the third quarter.

The Bucs added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Meyers ran the ball in from 10 yards and Johnson scored on a 65-yard sprint to the end zone. The two-point conversions were good on both scores with Meyers crossing the goal line both times.

Meyers ended the game with 172 yards rushing and five touchdowns. He also ran the ball in for five successful two-point conversions and led the team with five receptions for 62 yards.

Johnson rushed the ball six times for 119 yards and one touchdown. Lloyd finished right at the century mark with 100 yards rushing and one touchdown.

Lloyd completed 12 of 15 pass attempts for 127 yards.

In addition to Meyers’ five receptions, Abe Kokos had two catches for 39 yards, Jack Norman caught four balls for 22 yards and Hubly had one reception for four yards.

Meyers also led the team with seven tackles including four unassisted tackles. Johnson and Norman each finished with five tackles. Soren Fering and Kade Gaydon each recorded four tackles and Abe Kokos had an interception.

The Raiders ended up gaining a total of 259 yards on offense.

“I think you saw with the second half of the Maple River game and now continuing with this game the team is really coming together,” Armstrong said. “They are really playing for each other.”