Bucs blast Oakland in opener in Tennessee

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- The Hoover Bucs opened the 2015 football season in 3D.

Dominating defense, a darn good debut by starting quarterback Christopher Vacarella -- and a dismaying number of penalties.

Two out of three ain't bad, and it was plenty good enough to dispatch Oakland High's Patriots of Murfreesboro 24-6 Saturday night. The game was played at Floyd Stadium on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University. It was the nightcap game of the inaugural Middle Tennessee Football Classic. Clay-Chalkville defeated Blackman 38-7 in the opener.

The Bucs defense held the Patriots to 114 yards of total offense. Vacarella, making his first start as the senior quarterback, was 12-of-21 for 190 yards and three touchdowns.

About the dirty laundry on the field ... 13 penalties for 126 yards, that's un-Buc-like.

But Bucs coach Josh Niblett wasn't too concerned about that.

"First game, a lot of things we got to do better," Niblett said. "A lot of it was before the play and after the play. We'll get that squared away. Too much energy a couple of times, but we got that corrected."

Vacarella, taking over for two-year starter Jack Hutcheson, had mostly good moments. 

"I thought he played well," Niblett said. "MIssed his read on one throw. We didn't help him out a lot a couple of other times. For his first night, controlling the offense, had some good checks, and he was able to hit on some balls that we needed."

After a pair of three-and-outs for each team, Hoover put together a drive for a score. Vacarella sparked the drive with his arm and his feet, but it was not a thing of beauty. Multiple penalties set Hoover back from the Oakland 3 to the 39. On a third-and-29 from the 32, Vacarella scrambled for 16 yards to the 16. That set up Barret Pickering's 33-yard field goal and a 3-0 Bucs lead that held up at the quarter.

It was an ugly quarter, with a couple of personal foul penalties and several other penalties. The Bucs were penalized six times for 65 yards. Oakland was not penalized in the quarter.

Hoover's defense stopped the first Oakland drive of the second quarter, and P.J. Hall returned the ensuing punt for 16 yards to the Hoover 36. Vacarella hit Quincy Cox for a 30-yard gain. Penalties again hampered the drive, but on third-and-11 from the 12, Vacarella hit Jimmie Johnson in the end zone for a touchdown. Pickering's extra point made it 10-0 with 8:39 left before half.

After the Bucs forced another punt, Vacarella led Hoover down the field into Patriots territory but he was picked off by Kaleb Oliver, who brought the ball back to the Oakland 35. The Bucs took it right back as Ricky Palao recovered a fumble at the 33 on the next play. On fpurth-and-8, Vacarella delivered a strike into the end zone, but the Bucs receiver couldn't hold on.

The Bucs took the 10-0 lead into intermission. The offense had managed 185 yards and held the Patriots to just 20 -- 11 yards rushing and 9 passing. 

Hoover put the game away in the third quarter. 

After a Patriot punt on the opening possession, the Bucs went 58 yards in five plays, Vacarella hitting Quincy Cox for a 20-yard score to make it 17-0. 

After the next possession, Oakland shanked a punt and the Bucs took over at the 44. On the next snap, Vacarella found Shedrick Jackson alone for another TD pass. That made it 24-0 with just over four minutes left in the third. 

"It felt great to get out there for the first time as a starter," Vacarella said. "Shedrick is a big guy but he's real fast and he's one of my go-to guys. It was a good play and we executed on it."

He was generally pleased, but critiqued himself for not stepping up in the pocket a little more. He rushed for 43 yards, including a 16-yard run, but ran out of bounds for losses net 25 yards.

"We'll get a lot of that stuff corrected tomorrow."  

The Bucs ended up with 338 yards of total offense.

Oakland got on the board on a 4-yard pass from Brendon Matthes to JaCoby Stevens. A two-point try failed with 11:55 left in the game. 

But that was a small demerit for a defense that was dominant. The Bucs had four sacks and 13 tackles for loss.

"We're extremely fast and physical," Niblett said. "I thought our kids did a good job of getting ready."