After 15 quarters of struggling to find its offensive identity, the young Bucktail offense displayed life through the fourth quarter of last Friday’s matchup against Smethport. Freshman quarterback Corbin Pentz three of his four touchdowns on the night through the stanza, and the Bucks finished with a season high of 28 points.

It was an aspect of the loss that had their coaches and players upbeat in its aftermath. Now, the hope is that Bucktail can keep building on that success in another road trip against Otto-Eldred/Oswayo Valley (1-4).

“I’m incredibly happy, and I think the rest of the coaching staff is too, with our performance on Friday night,” said Bucktail head coach Kevin Ransom on the performance. “Now, I want to see them take this momentum and run with it.”

The team still has plenty of places to improve, particularly from a defensive standpoint. Through its first four competitive outings, the unit has surrendered 187 points, good for an average of over 46 points per game.

And while Otto-Eldred lost a lot from the squad that went 7-2 last season, repping a new coaching staff and plenty of first-time starters, it did keep all-state quarterback Shane Magee.

Even without the same weapons from 2024, Magee will be a serious challenge for the Bucks’ defense to handle. Through five games, the senior thrown for 736 yards and eight touchdowns while also accumulating over 500 yards on the ground.

“They’ve lost a lot, but the quarterback is somebody we absolutely have to respect,” said Ransom on Magee. “We’re going to have to really focus on him. We’ve tried to stay with the defenses we know to not confuse these young kids, but we may need to look at a different defense just to respect that passing game that they have.”

Alongside Magee, senior Dawson Welch and sophomore Wyatt Blendinger can also be expected to be impactful in the team’s revamped receiving core. They’ve both surpassed 300 receiving yards – with four touchdowns each – through five games.

For the Bucks, Pentz will look to build on his 283-yard, four-touchdown against a defense that has surrendered 40-plus points in three games. Alongside him, expect Aiden Ditty, Teagan Stone, Levi Stevenson and Jaden Intallura to remain impactful weapons for him, with the latter three as big playmakers and the former as a red zone threat.