Buccaneers rush for 379 yards in 38-7 playoff win
Ryan Pleggenkuhle
LISBON — If it isn’t broken, don’t pass it.
That’s the approach East Buchanan (8-2) took in its 38-7 rout of fifth-ranked Lisbon (9-1) Friday night in a Class A second-round prep football playoff game.
The Buccaneers, led by “thunder and lightning” backs Tanner Thurn and Hunter Bowers, rushed for 379 yards. All their offensive yards came on the ground.
Thurn, who became East Buchanan’s all-time leading rusher this season, carried the ball 30 times for 227 yards. Bowers rushed 21 times for 149 yards. Both backs had two touchdowns.
“They’re thunder and lightning for us,” East Buchanan Coach Jerry Alden said. “Tanner is just a power guy who is going to come after you. And Hunter is just a breakaway guy.
“The best thing about those two, they’re going to say that they wouldn’t get a yard without those guys up front.”
Read More: Photos: East Buchanan vs. Lisbon in Class A playoffs
One of those guys up front is 6-foot-5, 295-pound Cody Fox — a 2024 Iowa commit.
Fox plays right guard and nose tackle.
“When you have a top-150 national recruit up front, you’re going to run behind him and he opens up some huge holes for us,” Alden said. “When you’ve got a guy that big, you ride behind him.”
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“We’ve got a big line,” Thurn said. “And I like it.”
Lisbon came out scrappy.
East Buchanan received the opening kick and had what looked like a nice return before the Lions punched the ball out and recovered it at the Buccaneers’ 36.
The Bucs defense held and forced a turnover on downs, giving the ball to the offense at their 20.
From there, Thurn and Bowers marched 80 yards on 12 plays as Bowers capped the drive with a 3-yard score.
“I just have to follow the big boys up front,” Bowers said. “They’ll pave the way for you.”
East Buchanan took it 58 yards in four plays on its next possession. This time Thurn got the score, a 15-yarder late in the first.
“Some people had us as the underdogs, but we came here thinking we were the better team,” Thurn said.
Early in the third, Bowers added his second score of the game, a 7-yard TD, followed by running in the 2-pointer.
Late in the third, Thurn cashed in from 13 yards out, making it 30-0. East Buchanan then threw its one and only pass of the game as quarterback Trystin Russel rolled out to the right and found Bowers for two.
“Passing? Those are trick plays,” Bowers said with a smile. “We don’t do it very often. We kind of just tell people, they know what we’re going to do. If you can stop us, great.”
Lisbon added a fourth-quarter score as Dakota Clark carried it in from 4 yards out.
Carter Wilgenbusch added a 1-yard TD to round out the scoring.
The Bucs will travel to top-rated Saint Ansgar (10-0) for the state quarterfinals next week.
“Next week is a big week,” Alden said. “We know what’s at stake. We’ll have a long road trip — the good thing is we’ve been up to Saint Ansgar before so we kind of know to expect.”
East Buchanan 38, Lisbon 7
AT WALMER FIELD
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs: EB 23, LIS 5
Passing yards: EB 0, LIS 35
Rushing yards: EB 379, LIS 62
Comp-att-int: EB 0-0-0, LIS 3-6-1
Fumbles-lost: EB 2-2, LIS 1-0
Total yards: EB 379, LIS 97
Punts-average: EB 0-0, LIS 3-26.3
Penalties-yards: EB 2-10, LIS 3-30
SCORING SUMMARY
East Buchanan 14 0 16 8 — 38
Lisbon 0 0 0 7 — 7
East — Hunter Bowers 3 run (2-pt. conversion no good)
East — Tanner Thurn 15 run (Thurn run)
East — Hunter Bowers 7 run (Bowers run)
East — Tanner Thurn 13 run (Bowers 2 pass from Trystin Russell)
LIS — Dakota Clark 4 run (Gage Holub kick)
East — Carter Wilgenbusch 1 run (Tod Dawes run)
Individual Statistics
Rushing — East Buchanan: Tanner Thurn 30-227, Hunter Bowers 21-149, Trystin Russell 2-(minus 1), Keenan Pals 1-6. Lisbon: Dakota Clark 9-15, Henry Neymeyer 8-18, Tiernan Boots 12-31, Reid Fridley 1-3, Team 2-(minus 5)
Passing — East Buchanan: Trystin Russell 0-0-0-0. Lisbon: Dakota Clark COMP-ATT-YARDS-INT.
Receiving — East Buchanan: 0. Lisbon: Reid Fridley 2-23, Mason Lehmer 1-12.