High school football: Cy Christensen has big day, but Amherst comes up short against Buckeye

YORK TWP. — Cy Christensen made things interesting, but Amherst came up a few plays short in a 21-13 non-league loss to Buckeye on Friday. The senior opened the scoring for the Comets on their second possession. Facing a seemingly insurmountable third-and-21 play from their own 9, Christensen turned a give-up play into a big one. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound quarterback ran a draw and broke loose on the left side of the line, scoring a 91-yard touchdown to give Amherst (1-1) an early 7-0 lead. "It was like third-and-21," Christensen said. "We just called a run and we were expecting to punt. I cut on them and I made a play." Buckeye (2-0) got stingy after that and behind a bruising effort from its offensive line scored the next 21 points over the second and third quarters to take a 21-7 lead. Behind Christensen (16-of-30 passing, 230 yards, 19 carries, 116 yards, 2 total TDs) the Comets started to rally. He orchestrated a seven-play, 58-yard drive, which he capped with a 25-yard touchdown toss to David Dudziak (four receptions, 78 yards) to pull his team to within 21-13 with 4:57 left in the game. "It was great to get some rhythm, but it was too late," Christensen said. "They have a great defense and they dropped guys back because we were down. It was hard to throw deep balls on them." That big drive followed a drive that nearly found a TD, when the Comets drove 86 yards on 14 plays to the Buckeye 2-yard line before mistakes spoiled the effort. A false start on third-and-1 pushed Amherst back to the 7, then a bad snap cost them another 25 yards back to the Buckeye 32. Christensen's fourth-and-31 pass attempt was broken up by cornerback Brayden Bonnett. The Comets forced a three-and-out on the Bucks' final possession, but a fortuitous bounce on Bonnett's fourth Buckeye punt rolled down to the 6-yard line. Amherst took over with 3:38 left on the clock and Chistensen went to work again. The QB hit four passes for 45 yards and scrambled for nine more to push deep into Buckeye territory with the clock running low. The Bucks picked up big sacks on the final two plays of the game with Kyle Landes notching the first and teaming up with twin brother Cameron on the last. "We started off slow in the second quarter and the start of the third," Christensen said. "We fought back but we came up short." Buckeye did the majority of its damage on the ground with 214 yards on 44 carries, headlined by Brayden Sopko's 103 yards on 21 carries and two TDs. Contact Chad Grant at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.