Brody Buxton doesn’t want to ever be a third-place finisher.

Right now, he’s the unquestioned top dog in the Prosser High School passing attack. The junior wide receiver catches everything — on or off target. He’s a fearless route runner. And his zig-zagging movement regularly makes people miss.

“When he competes,” Mustangs coach Corey Ingvalson said, “he is unbelievable.”

Buxton has lofty goals: He wants to leave Prosser with at least one Class 2A championship as one of the all-time greats.

“I’ve always believed in myself,” Buxton said. “And I always believe I am the best player on the field.”

Last season, Buxton was an all-2A CWAC first-team performer, catching 70 passes for 806 yards and eight touchdowns.

With 100 career catches in his first two seasons — and likely bigger seasons ahead — Buxton very well could challenge for a Washington high school top-10 spot all-time in career receptions.

But he’ll always have the huge reminder in his own school who holds the top two spots in virtually every state career receiving record. They are both Prosser graduates:

• Cody Bruns, who went on to play at Washington, holds the state record for career receptions (310) and yards (5,177) and is No. 2 in touchdowns (72).

• Kirby Moore, who went to Boise State and is now the WSU coach, is top in career touchdown catches (95) and is No. 2 in receptions (303) and yardage (4,909).

And yet, when Buxton finally got to meet both former Mustangs a couple weeks ago at the Tri-City Football Camp at Richland High School, he didn’t back down. He wasn’t nervous when they stood nearby and watched him.

“I mean, I am trying to get up there (in career standing) with them,” Buxton said. “I played the same as I always do. I played well.”

Ingvalson said longtime Prosser assistant coach Mark Little says every time he watches Buxton make a move, the standout is very “Cody Bruns-esque” in his style.

“He is the closest thing to Cody since Cody,” Ingvalson said. “He is dynamic.”

Buxton firmly established himself as an elite playmaker in his eighth-grade season when he played one season in Richland.

He led his team to the area “Super Bowl” against a team from Yakima. In the game, he picked off three passes on defense, and had nearly 200 receiving yards and the game-winning touchdown catch in a 6-0 victory.

When he returned to Prosser for ninth grade, he went to the Boise State camp as a member of the junior varsity squad. That lasted two days after he stung a few of the top defensive backs in the camp.

And now after two good seasons — and a spring of improving his speed (ran sprints) and jumping ability (long jump) in track and field — Buxton is ready to find another gear in this Mustangs offense.

“This year, we are going to be really good,” Buxton said. “And I like that everybody is relying on me.”

Editor’s note: This game story was originally published by content-sharing partner VarsityWA, founded by journalists Todd Milles and Lauren Smith. Milles and Smith bring nearly 40 years of sportswriting experience — much of it at The News Tribune in Tacoma (while Todd also spent six years at SBLive Washington). Support that venture at VarsityWA.