Bobcats Determination Pays Off
Bobcats Defeat 5th Ranked Crowell 42-36
October 12, 2009
Friday night the Newcastle Bobcats put up the fight of their life and the 5th ranked Crowell Wildcats were having a tough time believing what was happening! They may have been looking ahead to their game this week against Vernon Northside and possibly remembering the 52-17 whopping they put on the Bobcats here at home last year! Whatever the reason, when the 4th quarter started with the Bobcats out front by a score of 34 - 28, the Wildcats were beginning to realize that these Bobcats were still in this game!
This game at Crowell did not start out too well for the Bobcats. Crowell jumped on the scoreboard within the first minute of play with a long pass from Kory Dunham to Thomas Hinkle and then quickly held the Bobcats to three plays and a punt! Yes, that's right. Coach Spitzer actually had Jason Thomas punt - twice! This time the Bobcats were ready for the Wildcats and the rush of Shane Potter and David Brockman caused Dunham to lose his footing and about 15 yards which they could not regain and the Bobcats got the ball back. It was during this possession that an integral part of Coach Spitzer's game strategy (slow this game down and run as much clock off as possible) started taking shape. The Bobcats took the ball and with a fairly balanced attack laden with a heavy dose of running from Justin Bohannon, the Bobcats moved the ball down to the 6 yard line where Justin made the final run for the goal and our first points of the night with 1:55 left in the first quarter!
It took the Wildcats exactly 22 seconds to score their second touchdown and the wind came rushing back out of the Bobcat faithful in the stands! Throughout the entire first half I kept waiting for the Wildcats to just take over the game but the Bobcats had other plans! Brandon Bailey threw a 6 yard touchdown pass to Jason Thomas with about 1 minute remaining in the first half which gave the Bobcats some momentum. When the first half ended the score was still close - Crowell 28; Newcastle 20 - and the Bobcats went to the dressing room with their heads held high and knowing that the Wildcats were going to be giving up a big 15 yard penalty for a late hit on Justin Bohannon as the buzzer sounded to end the half! It would be great field position to start the third quarter.
I want you to know that our Bobcats defense held the Wildcats to only one single touchdown in the second half and that one came as time expired to end the game!! It was a defensive jewel! The Wildcats had no answer for the Bobcat defense. Crowell would line up in a tight set and Coach Spitzer would send out the beef! When Crowell came out in a spread Coach Spitzer would send in the speed! This defensive pattern of bend but don't break worked out great for the Bobcats and the Wildcats really seemed lost and confused because everything they tried didn't seem to work just like they had practiced. They could not believe that they did not score during the third quarter. The only scoring during the third quarter came from two Brandon Bailey passes. One a 16 yarder to Wade Spitzer and the other a 9 yarder to Justin Bohannon.
I doubt that the Wildcats had ever been behind the entire season so this was a little different experience for them and they appeared to be in shock. The fourth quarter was back and forth, back and forth with the biggest difference being the pace of the game that the Bobcats were playing - very slow and deliberate - while the Wildcats wanted to speed everything up and get back on the scoreboard as quickly as possible. The final Bobcat possession started on about their own 15 yard line. Three or four times the Bobcats made successful fourth down tries that broke the hearts of the Wildcats. One particular 4th down pass to Jason Thomas stands out in my mind! It was a beautiful pass and catch with two Wildcat defenders on him. Jason went up high with both hands and brought it down on about the Wildcats' 25 yard line. That one broke the Wildcats back! And then with fourth and long Brandon Bailey completed a pass for a touchdown only to be called back on a vague holding penalty! So Brandon decided the next time to simply run it in himself instead of passing. That touchdown put the Bobcats out of reach and sealed the deal.
This game was truly a team effort and every single Bobcat made contributions at different times! Justin Bohannon had 98 rushing yards for the evening and Brandon Bailey added 37 more. Brandon also spread out 170 yards of passing to a variety of receivers. Jason Thomas had 53 reception yards; Cody Coop had 40 yards; David Brockman caught 33 yards; Wade Spitzer had 16; Justin Bohannon contributed 15 and Dakota Lowe caught a 13 yard pass from Bailey. Taylor Lewis did a great job again of making some key extra point kicks and three different times Taylor made touchdown saving tackles after he had kicked off for the Bobcats! Three Bobcats led in tackles with 6 each - Dakota Lowe, Brandon Bailey and David Brockman. Casey Terrell playing in his first varsity game added 4 tackles and a huge interception inside the Bobcats 5 yard line. Shane Potter made 3 tackles mostly for losses! Shane Potter and Dakota Lowe also recovered two fumbles that contributed greatly to the Bobcat victory.
Wow! What a game! No rest for the weary! This week the Bobcats have the privilege of playing 6-man football's number one team in the state - Throckmorton Greyhounds! We can be assured that Coach Reed will not let his Greyhounds look ahead! He has tremendous respect for Coach Spitzer and he should. The Bobcats will be ready for Throckmorton and I hope that you come out to support them! The game is here and begins at 7:30.
