2011 Homecoming Weekend A Big Success!
Amy Clayborn Named 2011 Homecoming Queen and Shot Lowe Football Hero!
October 17, 2011
It was the kind of homecoming weekend our Newcastle teams love to experience! Friday night, in front of a big homecoming crowd, the Bobcats routed the Bryson Cowboys with a 66-30 spanking and then Saturday morning the LadyCats followed suit with the Perrin Lady Pirates winning the match 3-0!
The Bobcats probably had the best, most balanced half of football they have played all season long Friday night. To start the game Michael Moreno made one of the prettiest 50 yard kickoff returns I’ve seen in a long time and everything and everyone was hitting on all cylinders – except the 4 first half failed extra point kicks. The game would have been over at half with these kicks. Hagen Bennett was hitting the holes quick and taking off for 86 total yards! Wade Spitzer had a 52 yard run and a 13 yard touchdown reception from Moreno! Tyler Mays had 65 yards rushing and was leading the Bobcats methodically down the field with some tenacious downfield blocking from the James Guerin, Shot Lowe and the Bobcat line. With the score 42-0 with 3:00 minutes left in the half, it appeared that this would be another half time game but the Cowboys didn’t have quit in their vocabulary and they outscored the Bobcats 30-24 in the second half.
You can sure see the Bobcats’ balance on defense. Wade Spitzer was the man on defense with 11 tackles and 1 interception. Hagen Bennett added 9 tackles, Shot Lowe and Michael Moreno had 8 tackles each with Moreno taking away 2 interceptions. James Guerin had 7 tackles and some really fine pass defense at critical times; Tyler Mays had 5 tackles; Ryan Bohannon posted 3 tackles and Jerry Shields and Brandon Martin tacked on 1 tackle each.
The Bobcats jump into district play this Friday at 7:30 pm with a very tough match up with the Strawn Greyhounds at their field. The Greyhounds are very well coached by Coach Dwaine Lee and are always a challenge for the Bobcats. It’s tough to beat them on their home turf so the ‘Cats will need all the support we can muster.
Saturday, the LadyCats jumped on the Perrin Lady Pirates from homecoming queen, Amy Clayborn’s first serve. The LadyCats won three straight games with scores of 25-14, 25-20 and 25-18. The LadyCats were led in the first game by the serving of Clayborn and the consistent hitting of Courtney Bailey. When you have a potential district MVP like Braidi Warren on your team there are times when the opponent focuses a little too much on that one player and during this first game Bailey and the LadyCats took advantage of it!
The second game of the match was a little closer and the Lady Pirates actually had a couple of small leads until Braidi did her thing and smashed a couple of intimidators right back at the Lady Pirates. Those were spikes right back into the box at the net and they are extremely fun to watch! Jenna Evans made a couple of great saves and Courtney Spitzer did a fine job getting the ball up into the air during the Lady Pirates jump serves. Some of those babies were rockets and Spitzer calmly kept the ball in play. Speaking of calm – Charitye Lowe was her usually calm self with another good service and back row job.
The highlight of the third game had to be an extended, hard-hitting volley at the net with LadyCats and Lady Pirates hustling like crazy to keep the ball alive with hits, blocks and saves forcing freshman, Jessica Bohannon, to set the ball three straight times! Jess is not usually a setter but this particular point forced her into that role! Each time that ball was saved on our side of the net and the pass came back to her for a set, her eyes got a little wider and a little wider! Her sets were really good and they paid off with a very exciting point for the LadyCats! Those kinds of hard fought points can really kill the momentum of your opponent and you could just see it in the Lady Pirates.
The LadyCats are working hard to maintain their tie for the district championship with the Poolville Lady Monarchs and each match is extremely important! The LadyCats will play another home game Tuesday night as the Bryson Cowgirls come to the Newcastle gym for a visit. A JV game is planned to start at 5:30 pm with the varsity game immediately following.
