Buis flying high for Cardinals' offense
Written by: Mike Peters
Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner on Sep. 15, 2007

Catholic receiver Andrew Buis is making his presence known this season.

The junior has emerged as quarterback Keith Ricca's favorite target, having caught a team-high16 passes for 230 yards and 2 touchdowns in 2 games.

"Andrew just possesses a lot of speed, so he is able to gain a lot of yards after the catch," Catholic coach Dave Dunn said.

And that's exactly what Buis has demonstrated so far this season. Both of his touchdowns led the Cardinals (2-0) to victories.  Buis' 43-yard score against Shenandoah capped a  fourth quarter comeback for a 7-6 win, and his 46-yard touchdown grab ignited a 20-0, first-half run in Catholic's 20-14 victory over of Ohio Wesleyan.

"There's no better feeling in the world," said Buis, who starred at Gaithersburg High in Montgomery County.

Following his freshman season in which Buis caught 2 passes for 6 yards, he made 29 receptions for 501 yards and 4 touchdowns last season.

Only the graduated Ryan Bowman amassed more receiving yards (533) than Buis last season.  Ricca and Buis spent extra time over the summer developing better communication on the field, and it's paid big dividends. Of the Cardinals' six receptions of 20 or more yards, Buis has four of them.

"I know that Andrew will be in the right position at the right time when we throw it deep," Dunn said. "We give our receivers certain spots to hit on the field and practice it every day."

Buis is on pace for 1,150 receiving yards this season, far shy of Nick Bublavi's school-record of 1,797 in 2005. 

Ricca spread the ball around last year, hitting four different receivers for more than 350 yards.  After two games, Buis is the only receiver with more than 79 yards.

"As long as we're putting up good passing numbers and winning games, it doesn't matter," Buis said. "My teammates are just as good as me. I just happened to be getting most of the passes."

-MP 

Click HERE to see print version