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By Kary Booher (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
BUFFALO – For the first time in 20 years, the Buffalo Bison will need to make room in the trophy case for a district championship plaque, a story that dates back to their Mighty Mite days.
But …
“We aren’t done yet,” Buffalo senior Bodie Abraham said.
Buffalo won Class 3 District 5 in a 42-0 final against the Mountain Grove Panthers on Friday night, scoring on the opening drive and then riding a dominate defense that fueled a 28-point second quarter – a session highlighted by Abraham and senior safety Jamen Smith’s interception returns for touchdowns.
With it, the Bison (9-2) advance to play at Cassville, which beat Mount Vernon 35-13 in a Class 3 field that is suddenly wide open following a pandemic-related cancellation of top-ranked Odessa’s district championship game.
“We’ve been working for this our whole lives, ever since Mighty Mites, and we finally got it done,” said Smith, who doubles as the team’s quarterback and threw for a 5-yard TD and ran for a 44-yard TD, too.
The past two years, Buffalo was eliminated in this round by Springfield Catholic and Blair Oaks. This time, Abraham had two of the Bison’s four interceptions and two TD receptions by halftime. Of their 28 second-quarter points, 21 were directly the result of interceptions.
In other words, the Bison certainly looked the part of a district champion.
Said fourth-year Buffalo coach Ed Phillips, “This whole year the goal was to try to get through the door. It was just a great win for our team, our community and for our school. … Tonight, our defense played exceptionally well.”
Some folks may remember Cameron Portis’ 9-yard touchdown run capping the opening series, a seven-play, 64-yard drive in which he had half the yards. They’ll also faintly remember Caleb Bennett bouncing a run outside for 48 yards to set up Abraham’s 5-yard TD reception on a floater from Smith.
But the defense made memories, particularly the Bison stopping Mountain Grove just inches shy of the first-down marker at the Buffalo 29 on a fourth-day play. Buffalo was leading 7-0 at the time.
“If we get that, we may go in and score and the mentality changes,” Mountain Grove coach Brandon Rodgers said. “Buffalo made a good stop.”
Suddenly, it was 28-0 in almost no time.
Abraham hauled in the TD pass on the next series, and the next two Mountain Grove series led to Pick-6s — Abraham jumped a route and returned his 35 yards for a touchdown, and then Bennett tipped a pass near the sideline, with the ball falling right into Smith’s hands and hitting him in stride. That one went 50 yards for a score.
Two series later, Abraham broke two tackles for a 29-yard TD, and it was 35-0 with 45 seconds left before halftime.
Mainly, Buffalo was getting a strong push up front from lineman Brock Wendlandt, John Jenkins, Alex Richardson and Gabe Glor.
“Everything that could go wrong went wrong, but good teams make that happen to you,” Rodgers said. He later added, “Top to bottom, that’s the most athletic team we’ve seen. They not only fast but extremely athletic. They break tackles.”
Mountain Grove finished the season 5-7, but it was a remarkable year considering the Panthers finished 0-10 last year. Friday night, five sophomores were in the starting lineup on offense, giving the program a reason to be optimistic about the next couple of years.
Meanwhile, the celebration will last a day for Buffalo, and then it’s back to work.
“They’ve worked extremely hard since I’ve been here,” Phillips said. “This group has been successful and wanted to change and do this – not only in the last four years but their whole career. They’ve played since first grade. They wanted to be the team to do this. It’s great to see.”
