Morgan knows hot start means nothing now that district's here
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

Two unbeaten teams met in Buna Friday, Oct. 19 and when the smoke had cleared on the game, the Cougars were left standing undefeated as they walked away with a 49-32 victory over Hardin.

Actually, the game was pretty much decided at halftime as the Coogs held a 35-6 lead.

"Hardin had been getting a lot of publicity coming into the game being 7-0 but I felt like we were the better football team and should have been the ones to beat but it seemed like we were considered the underdogs," said Buna Head Football Coach Bradley Morgan. "And I didn't think that was right."

Morgan's Cougars ran out and took a quick 14-0 lead in the first quarter and then outscored Hardin 21-6 in the second quarter to take complete control of the contest.

"I thought we came out real focused and really took it to them in the first half," Morgan said. "They tried to run the ball a little bit but our defensive line shut the run down. They thought they could run on us some but they found out real early they couldn't get nothing off their running game."

Hardin ended the contest with just 40 yards rushing on 17 carries. But it was through the air that Hardin moved the ball as they passed for 419 yards.

Coming into the contest, Morgan knew of the vaunted Hardin passing attack and worked this week with his secondary players to prepare for the attack.

"We spent a lot of extra time with them and I think our secondary covers very good," Morgan said.

Hardin came back in the second half and made the game closer on paper but the outcome was never in much doubt.

The Hornets pushed across a touchdown in the third quarter and outscored Buna 19-14 in the final quarter but the end was inevitable for Hardin.

"We lost focus in the second half," Morgan said. "We were trying to preserve the lead and got into a conservative offense to burn time off the clock. I never thought we were jeopardy of losing

the football game." Buna held possession of the football nine times and scored on seven of those possessions. For the night, Anthony Smith led Buna with 166 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns while Bryan Holmes rushed for 114 yards and two scores. Blanton Craft added 74 yards and two scores as well.

Buna quarterback Ryan Sheppard was 1-of-6 for 25 yards but made that one completion count as he connected with Justin Carrell for a touchdown pass.

"That was a big pressure win for us to win," Morgan said.

With the victory over Hardin, Buna's 7-0 start marks the first time in the school's history for such an impressive start.