Merced runs past Buhach Colony, looks to finish strong to set up playoff run
After pulling double duty — playing middle linebacker and quarterback — you’d think Merced High senior Seth Scheidt would be pretty banged up and bruised after eight games.
It’s actually the opposite.
“I feel great,” Scheidt said. “I play with a lot of energy, especially around these guys (his teammates). It’s hard not to. The bye week was good for me, but I feel good.”
Scheidt says his Saturdays after games include an ice bath and plenty of rest.
Scheidt looked fresh on Friday night, rushing for 117 yards and two touchdowns, throwing for another score and making big tackles on defense throughout the game as the Bears cruised to a 44-15 win over Buhach Colony at Veterans Stadium.
The Bears improved to 5-3 overall and 3-1 in the Central California Conference. Merced trails Patterson (7-2, 5-0 CCC) atop the CCC standings. Buhach Colony dropped to 2-5 overall and 2-1 in the CCC.
The Bears may not be able to catch Patterson in the CCC standings, but they have an opportunity to secure a good seed in the playoffs and possibly a first-round bye if they end up in Division IV.
Merced closes the season with games against Central Valley and Golden Valley in the final two weeks.
Merced did the bulk of its damage against the Thunder on the ground, rushing for 349 yards and scoring five touchdowns on the ground.
“I like running the ball,” Seth Scheidt said. “It takes the pressure off me. My linemen get to have fun and our running backs get to have fun.”
Apparently the receivers too.
Junior receiver Enoch Evans rushed for 80 yards on four carries, including a 55-yard touchdown on a reverse play in which he ran all the way to the Merced sideline, saw he didn’t have an opening, so he reversed the field and ran all the way on to the other side of the field and scored late in the first quarter to give the Bears a 17-0 lead.
Sophomore running back Chase Smith displayed his big-play ability, rushing for 79 yards on just six carries. He scored on an 11-yard run in the first quarter and added a 41-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter.
Scheidt kept the chains moving with his tough inside running and scored on touchdown runs of 5 and 10 yards as Merced built a 31-8 lead in the third quarter after the 10-yard touchdown run by Scheidt.
“We had a very clean game against El Capitan (last week),” said Bears coach Rob Scheidt. “We executed well and played with a lot of energy. I didn’t feel like we played that way tonight. We played really hard. Instead of throwing the ball, we ran the ball. Our defense did a good job. We had a couple situations of bend-but-don’t-break on defense, including that big goal-line stand at the end of the first half.”
The Bears stopped Buhach Colony’s Payton Johnson at the 1-yard line on the final play of the first half that led to Merced taking a 24-8 lead into intermission.
The Bears were able to put the game out of reach in the second half, extending the lead to 44-8 with 5:24 left in the game.
Buhach Colony was able to connect on a 68-yard touchdown pass from Joshua Hendrickson to Jordan Colbert with 3:55 left that set up the final score.
This story was originally published October 15, 2021 at 10:47 PM.
