Richards senior Ahmad Buchanan isn’t playing like a first-year running back.
Buchanan scored five touchdowns on runs of 1, 4, 6, 10 and 8 yards in a 40-26 South Suburban Red win over visiting Eisenhower on Sept. 19.
The third-year varsity veteran has seven rushing touchdowns in the past two weeks and nine for the season.
“This is the first time that Ahmad has played running back for us,” Bulldogs coach Tony Sheehan said. “Obviously, we lost (Myles) Mitchell (who is playing at North Dakota State). We lost a couple of other guys to some other things.
“We were kind of looking around like ‘Who could do it?’ and we said it to Ahmad and he was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll try it. I’ve never done it, but I’ll try it.’ He’s taken to it. We ask a lot of him. Most nights, he is the best player on the field and we ask a lot of him on defense.
“He just runs so damn hard. He’s still learning how to do things, but he works hard and he wants to get better. … He’s like a bull in a china shop. He just goes. Every week, he’s getting better. His vision is getting better and his cuts are getting better.”
The 6-foot, 195-pound Buchanan is an anchor of the Bulldogs’ defense from his safety position.
“He’s put together,” Sheehan said. “When you see him, you’re like, ‘OK, this is what a football player should look like.’ He’s one of those (players). He looks the part.”
The other touchdown of the game for the Bulldogs (3-1, 2-0 SSC Red) came on a 12-yard pass from Noah Escobedo to Jaiden Henry.
“We ran the ball and we threw the ball when we needed to,” Sheehan said. “I thought we did a very good job of balancing that.
“We made some adjustments to what (Eisenhower) was doing and we had a plan going into the game. But we had to adjust it because of what they were trying to do to us. We made that adjustment and it worked. We had them off-balance with our running and throwing.”