ALMEDIA – Bucktail made the District 4 playoffs back in 2023, but dropped their last three games of that season, including a six-point game in the first round of the Class A postseason.
Since then, the Bucks hadn’t won another game on the field (a forfeit win last year notwithstanding) up until two weeks ago – nearly three years to the date of its last on-field win – when Bucktail defeated a Coudersport team by a touchdown two weeks after losing by 27 points to the Falcons.
So, with a young and larger than usual squad in terms of numbers for the smallest football-sponsoring school in Pennsylvania, it was important for the Bucks to finish off the 2026 season strongly as they went up against a Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech squad that has struggled this season, and whose only win also came via a forfeit.
So, for the Bucks, their 42-6 win over the Rams is a significant accomplishment as it relates to Bucktail’s future with a roster full of underclassmen, and a 24-player roster. Quite frequently in the past, the Bucks have only dressed numbers in the teens.
”We have 24 and that is a rarity and being able to dress all of them today was huge. Today was a real good indication of how much better our younger kids have gotten and it was important for us to end this way,” said Bucktail coach Bruce Ransom. “We start six sophomores on offense and a freshman, so those are good signs. We played well, executed well, had a lot of second-and-shorts and established the run, which gave us the option to throw a little bit when we had to and that made the difference today.”
Bucktail racked up 347 yards of offense and scored on its first six possessions of the game. CMVT managed to put up 204 yards of offense, but was again bitten by turnovers, committing five.
“We’ve been talking all week about discipline and eye-discipline and doing your job for the whole series and that’s what it comes down to,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner. “The first series, we gave them too many free yards on offside penalties. We stopped them on first and second downs and then they run their counter-cross with their quarterback or the reserve with their winger, misdirection, which we knew they were going to do, and our discipline wasn’t there, we went inside and they’d make a big play. It’s something we’ve talked about all year and I think it was better today but they still at times exploited that youthfulness and inexperience.”
The Bucks had just one possession in the first quarter, and put together an eight-play, 61-yard drive capped by a two-yard touchdown run by Levi Stevenson at the 3:44 mark. The Rams turned it over on downs on their first drive after receiving the opening kickoff, and then drove it down to the Bucktail 4-yard line before losing a fumble and a fourth-and-goal play near the end of the quarter.
Bucktail took over at its own 9-yard line and proceeded to drive all 91 yards down the field in nine plays, capped by an eight-yard run by quarterback Corbin Pentz, with just under nine minutes to play in the second quarter.
Later in the second, Nickolas Dennis picked off a Jaxon Hartman pass and returned it 33 yards to the Bucktail 49. Three plays later, Teagan Stone got loose for a 44-yard touchdown run, which with a successful two-point conversion made it 22-0 with 3:33 remaining in the first half.
CMVT then turned it over on downs at its own 37 with 1:10 left in the half, and another long play, this one a 38-yard touchdown from Pentz to Stone, made it 28-0 heading into halftime.
Bucktail put the game into the mercy rule as Pentz and Stone connected again, this time for a 32-yard touchdown pass, on the Bucks’ opening possession of the second half. Stone finished with 78 yards rushing on four carries, and also had 78 yards receiving on three catches, along with three total touchdowns.
“Our underclassmen have had success the last couple of years at the junior high level but have had their legs handed to them earlier this season,” said Ransom. “But they never strayed direction, and put in the work and the experience they’re bringing as younger guys showed today.”
The Rams averted the shutout early in the fourth quarter when Jaxon Hartman hit Wyatt Bodnar for a 65-yard touchdown pass. It was the second long completion of the day for Hartman, who earlier in the game connected with Blake Sponenberg for a 51-yard pass in which Sponenberg was tackled just shy of the end zone. CMVT had another chance to score at the end of the game but a couple of Hartman’s passes were dropped in the vicinity of the end zone.
For CMVT, its season comes to a close as well with its lone win coming by forfeit. Yet, the environment around the team never turned negative as can often happen around teams that lose every game on the field in a given season.
Additionally, there is a backdrop of uncertainty surrounding the school, whose teachers went on strike yesterday and whose future model of education delivery and whether or not athletics will continue at the school is up in the air.
“We didn’t lose anyone once the season started. When you’re having a tough season, 1-9, you usually have guys that say ‘I don’t want to be a part of that,’ and they don’t show up anymore but that wasn’t these kids,” said Varner. “They showed up for each other and kept coming out and kept working hard and you appreciate that. There are so many things working against them, but they showed up, were proud of their school and did their school proud and you can’t ask anything more.
Though nothing has been decided, it is possible that Saturday’s game could be the last CMVT football game ever played.
“I think any individual that is associated with this school, if they would have been here today and seen these kids work hard, or had been at any practice or game, they would see what sports and extracurricular activities mean to this school,” said Varner. “And they could not, with a straight face, pull athletics from this school. It’s a shame that people that are in charge of doing things for the kids aren’t doing things for the kids.”
Bucktail 42, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 6
Bucktail (2-6) 6 22 14 0 – 42
CMVT (1-9) 0 0 0 6 – 6
First quarter
3:44 – (B) Levi Stevenson 2-yard run (run failed), 8-61, 4:21
Second quarter
8:56 – (B) Corbin Pentz 8-yard run (Stone pass from Pentz), 9-91, 4:03
3:33 – (B) Teagan Stone 44-yard run (Stevenson pass from Stone), 3-51, 1:51
:20 – (B) Teagan Stone 38-yard pass from Corbin Pentz (pass failed), 2-37, :50
Third quarter
8:20 – (B) Teagan Stone 32-yard pass from Corbin Pentz (Heiser run), 6-46, 3:40
2:40 – (B) Jaden Intallura 42-yard run (run failed), 4-51, 2:46
Fourth quarter
8:11 – (VT) Wyatt Bodnar 65-yard pass from Jaxon Hartman (run failed), 3-68, 1:44
Statistics
B VT
First downs 19 5
Rushes-net yards 35-269 34-64
Passing yardage 78 140
Passing 3-5-2-0 4-14-1-2
Fumbles-lost 1-1 4-3
Penalties-yards 17-132 5-40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Bucktail: Levi Stevenson (9-42-1), Corbin Pentz (5-24-1), Teagan Stone (4-78-1), Patrick Tarantella (4-24), Jaden Intallura (3-40-1), Stephen Heiser (3-26), Joey Heiser (3-6), Angelo Tarantella (1-37), Timothy Gentzyel (1-(-2)), Aidan Ditty (1-(-2)), Quinn Dorman (1-(-4)); CMVT: Liam Patraw (11-30), Cody Zimmerman (11-28), Hoyt Kelley (3-8), Jacob Fosse (1-2), Blake Sponenberg (1-1), Jaxon Hartman (1-(-5))
PASSING: Bucktail: Corbin Pentz (3-5-78-2-0); CMVT: Jaxon Hartman (4-14-140-1-2)
RECEIVING: Bucktail: Teagan Stone (3-78-2); CMVT: Bradley Jones (2-24), Wyatt Bodner (1-65-1), Blake Sponenberg (1-51)