by Jesse Skiles
CORRESPONDENT
ELKINS -- Luke Struble and Bub Cutlip form Buckhannon-Upshur's fullback rotation, and Friday night they combined for 130 yards and four touchdowns in leading the Buccaneers to a 28-12 win over Elkins.
Buckhannon-Upshur also used outstanding line play on both sides of the ball in recording the convincing league win.
Struble rushed for 81 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries, while Cutlip produced 44 yards and two more scores on 10 carries. Many of their runs were finished in a driving, bulldozer-like fashion.
Buckhannon-Upshur opened the game with a 13-play, 67-yard scoring drive. Cutlip went 4 yards for the score.
After a defensive stop, the Bucs launched an impressive 16-play, 78-yard drive, closing with a 9-yard Struble touchdown run.
Elkins cut the margin to 14-6 just before the half on a 2-yard run by quarterback Nathan Fields. A swing pass to Mike Simon that ended up as a 69-yard gain set up the score.
Buckhannon-Upshur recorded the TKO in the third quarter, scoring twice on touchdowns by Struble and Cutlip, and keeping the Tigers from a single first down.
Elkins closed the scoring in the fourth on a Fields pass to Jeff Satterfield.
Struble, the junior fullback-offensive end, was encouraged by the Buccaneer performance.
"We really came together as a team tonight on both sides. What can I say," Struble said.
"The guys really handled the line of scrimmage, and that was the difference," he said.
Head coach Dan Swisher agreed.
The players "made coaching awfully easy tonight ...We just made the calls, and they were executing."
Elkins' ultra-talented Fields was somewhat bottled up by the Bucs' defense, and could not produce the big plays that have marked his senior season.
Fields, the state's top high jumper, was hindered mostly by the fact that the Tiger offense was only the field for 16 minutes.
Fields closed the night with 188 yards passing on 12-of-22 throws, while Mike Simon had 117 yards on three catches.
Buckhannon-Upshur outrushed Elkins 291-55.
The offensive line consists of center Brad Shipley, guards Matt Bryant and Charlie Burkhammer, tackles Rob Fortney and Roger Tiffner, and tight end Josh Westfall.
Both schools are 2-2.