All offseason long, it gnawed at him. The fumble in the fourth quarter that helped Gallatin County bounce back from a deficit. The fact Bellevue’s defense couldn’t stop the Wildcats in the fourth quarter. The upset loss that ended the Tigers 2008 season before it should have concluded.
All of it drove Bellevue senior running back Ricky Buckler crazy during the past year.
Senior quarterback Richard Wills could relate. He threw an interception late in the first-round playoff game last year that pretty much sealed his team’s feat – a five-point loss to Gallatin County. Wills simply could not forget it.
They reminisced together about those hurtful memories late Friday night, the scoreboard behind them showing a 55-0 victory against those same Wildcats in the first round of the Class 1A playoffs.
“We all wanted a shot at redemption,” Wills said. “We all made mistakes last year, and we wanted to let all of Class 1A know that we’re the real deal.”
“That’s all that was going through my head,” Buckler said. “Thirty-three to 28.”
“Thirty-three to 28,” Wills repeated with a shake of the head.
Last year’s upset loss was not a huge topic of conversation this week at practice, Bellevue coach Dave Eckstein said. The Tigers (8-3) briefly talked about it last Saturday as they began to watch film and gameplan for the Wildcats (4-7). They discussed it for a short time Monday, and then once again in the pregame meeting.
Not much was said, though. Not much needed to be said. Buckler remembered the hurt. Wills remembered the pain. Bellevue was determined not to feel that way again.
“It wasn’t about revenge or anything,” Eckstein said. “We just wanted to make sure the real Bellevue football team played tonight. The kids didn’t feel like the real Bellevue football team played against Gallatin County last year. That’s not to take anything away from Gallatin County. They took us out of what we’re good at. But tonight, we were able to do what we’re good at.”
That is: use Buckler to gash the opposing defense repeatedly for big plays, use Wills in an efficient, effective manner, and use the speedy defense to force the opponent’s offense into bad decisions.
That’s exactly what they got vs. the Wildcats. Buckler rushed 24 times for 200 yards, bringing him only 20 yards short of Mike Sutkamp’s 28-year-old school record for rushing yards in a season and just 71 yards behind Sutkamp’s all-time career rushing mark.
Meanwhile, Wills completed four passes -- two for touchdowns -- and the defense overwhelmed Gallatin County and never allowed the Wildcats to penetrate the red zone.
"Nobody really hyped us coming into the year,” Eckstein said. “We were flying under the radar, because we lost 17 seniors off last year’s team. But we’ve gotten to the point in this program where we expect to win, and the kids know if we work hard enough, we’ve got a chance.”
On Friday, Bellevue never gave Gallatin County a chance to catch its breath. D.J. Slater took the opening kickoff 85 yards for the touchdown, and by the end of the first quarter – thanks, in part, to two of Buckler’s four scores on the night – the Tigers had outgained the Wildcats 161 to minus-4 and held a 28-0 lead.
The Bellevue defense also caused Gallatin County some pain. Early in the second quarter, a play after Nate Brown made the Wildcats’ biggest gain with a 45-yard run, James Sullivan pushed through the offensive line and reached Brown before the quarterback could give him the ball. The result: a forced fumble and a recovery for Bellevue.
If the defender is getting to the running back before the ball can be handed to him, that’s a pretty quick defense.
“Speed was the biggest difference,” Eckstein said. “They couldn’t block us. We’re pretty quick up front, and pretty much everybody on our defense can run. That makes our defense really jell. We started off kind of shaky at the beginning of the year, but they’ve done a great job. I’m really pleased with them.”
On Friday, he was pleased with the entire team. Now, he’ll prepare the Tigers for their second-round showdown against Frankfort, which beat Bishop Brossart 16-7 on Friday.
They’ll have to travel to Frankfort (8-3) for the game next week, but they’ll take some confidence with them.
“This is huge momentum,” Buckler said. “You can’t have any more momentum than when you beat somebody 55-0.”GALLATIN CO. 0-0-0-0--0
at BELLEVUE 28-20-7-0--55
B–Slater 85 kickoff return (Dill kick)
B–Buckler 1 run (kick failed)
B–Buckler 48 run (Brock pass from Wills)
B–Blust 8 run (Dill kick)
B–Buckler 1 run (Dill kick)
B–Buckler 14 run (kick failed)
B–Hegge 30 pass from Wills (Dill kick)
B–Rankin 13 pass from Wills (Dill kick)
RECORDS:
