Announcement
YORK TWP. — Buckeye’s Trevor Thome set a school record Friday with six touchdowns. He touched the ball on offense just seven times. And he exited the game for good with 10:05 left in the first half.
It was that kind of night for Thome and the Bucks, who throttled Fairview 52-0 in Patriot Athletic Conference cross-division action despite playing backups and junior varsity players for most of the final three quarters. Thome’s six TDs — on runs of 2, 2 and 33 yards and receptions of 15, 20 and 38 yards — broke Cory Reisner’s school record of five, set on three occasions in 2008. The slotback’s 36 points also set a school mark. “I can’t say I’d ever predict this,” the senior said. “I felt pretty good. But anyone can feel pretty good with that offensive line.
It was a great team effort and a great team win.” Five of Thome’s scores came in Buckeye’s 39-point first quarter, which also included a 39-yard interception return for a TD by Nathan Scott. “It feels pretty awesome,” Thome said. “It’s something you dream about as a little kid.” All of the 5-foot-8, 180-pounder’s TD receptions came off the right arm of quarterback Nathan Polidori, who finished 7-for-7 for 148 yards and the three scores, giving him a perfect NFL quarterback rating of 158.3. “They were absolutely perfect balls,” Thome said. “He couldn’t have put it in a better spot. That’s what Nate does.” The Bucks (4-0, 1-0) did virtually everything right against the Warriors (0-4, 0-1), as offensive linemen Hunter Gray, Jalin Brock, Jack Schroeder, Brad Calta, Bruce Barnby and Dominick Kriz opened huge holes and provided great protection for Polidori, who was never touched.
Defensively, Buckeye got great play from Jaret Yohman, Kyle Svagerko and Dustin McCullough and fumble recoveries from Brent Medvec and Dylan Fields to post back-to-back shutouts for the first time since recording four straight in 2005. “We don’t play against the other teams,” Polidori said. “We practice and play against perfection.” The Bucks, who also got a 9-yard TD from Fields in the fourth quarter, weren’t perfect, but they were pretty darn close as they continue their march toward what they hope will be a 10-0 season. Thome scored on a 20-yard reception just 1:45 into the game, leading the pajama-clad Buckeye student section to chant, “That’s too easy.” Polidori then hit his longtime teammate for a 15-yard score with 8:31 left in the first, and Scott’s pick-six made it 20-0 with 6:04 to go.
The first of Thome’s 2-yard runs made it 26-0 with 3:13 left, and a 38-yard strike from Polidori to Thome upped it to 32-0 at 2:46. Thome then capped a 39-point quarter with a 33-yard run at the 1:04 mark. A bad punt snap gave the Bucks the ball at the Fairview 2-yard line, and Thome went in again from 2 yards to make it 46-0 with 10:05 left in the first half. At that point, Buckeye had run 15 plays and scored seven touchdowns, leading both coaches to agree to play the rest of the game with a running clock.
“He’s good every night,” Polidori said of Thome. “I’ve played with him since peewee, and I’ve never seen him not be ready to play. He shows up every night.” Buckeye had 219 yards total offense in the first quarter and 247 at halftime, at which time the Warriors had minus-9. Eleven players ended up running the ball for the Bucks, who also used three quarterbacks while racking up 328 yards total offense to Fairview’s 63. “We were just ready to execute today,” Polidori said. “We put it to them early and got a good rest in the second half.”
NOTES: Fairview assistants Garrett Mack, Ben Karaba and Joe Richisson played football at Brunswick, where most of Buckeye’s staff once coached. The Bucks went 4-for-8 on extra points. Richard Gatt was 4-for-7 and Kaleb Ehrbar missed his lone attempt.
