Merced beats Buhach Colony, 36-14

Jabar Byrd was sick early in the week and was forced to miss Wednesday’s practice. Call it the Byrd flu.

He looked healthy on Friday night.

The Merced High senior sparked the Bears with two back-breaking touchdowns 23 seconds apart in the second quarter as Merced went on to defeat Buhach Colony 36-14 at Falcon Field.

“I felt pretty bad, it gave me the chills,” Byrd said. “But I was going to play regardless. This is my last year. We have to make a statement.”

Byrd did his part, rushing for 165 yards on 19 carries and a pair of touchdowns. He had the touchdown reception and also intercepted a pass in the end zone to end the game.

“He just brings so much leadership,” said Merced head coach Rob Scheidt, whose team won its fifth consecutive game to improve to 6-2 overall and 3-0 in the Central California Conference. “It’s not just Jabar’s ability, it’s everything with him. I love it. He knows we need a big play and he just says climb on my back. I got this. We have a few guys like that.”

After blowing out Awater and Pitman early the last two weeks, Merced’s offense sputtered out of the gate against the Thunder (3-5, 0-3). Their first three possessions netted zero points.

Buhach Colony then struck first as Nate Duran found Quian Newson for a 12-yard touchdown pass to give the Thunder a 7-0 lead with 6:58 left in the second quarter.

Byrd answered right away with a 54-yard touchdown run on Merced’s next play to tie the game at 7-7.

“It was a tailback trap and our offensive line made a huge hole,” Byrd said. “It just exploded. It was like a garage door opening.”

A bad Buhach snap turned the ball back over to Merced.

The ball was back in Byrd’s hands as Tyrone Williams hit Byrd with a swing pass on the next play and Byrd made at least five Thunder defensive players miss, scoring a 29-yard touchdown to give Merced a 14-7 lead with 6:13 left in the half.

Williams found Nick Camper for a 32-yard touchdown and Byrd added a 3-yard touchdown that extended the Bears’ lead to 28-7 with 2:23 left in the third quarter.

There was some bad blood between the two teams. Merced’s De’vonya Shepherd and Buhach Colony’s Aundre Sherman got into a skirmish near the end of the first half. Other players got involved but there were no ejections. There was also an incident during the postgame handshakes that had to be broken up.

This story was originally published October 24, 2014 at 11:12 PM with the headline "Merced beats Buhach Colony, 36-14."