Bobcats Lose Final Game in Overtime
Newcastle 42 - Knox City 44
November 10, 2009
The Newcastle Bobcats ended their 2009 football season with an overtime loss to the Knox City Greyhounds. The 44 to 42 loss evened out the Bobcats season at 5 wins and 5 losses. I would bet that the Bobcats will not miss being in the current district when realignment takes place. It has been a tough one and probably not any tougher from top to bottom!
The game Friday night was a great game to watch because it was back and forth with both teams giving 110% effort. The Bobcats took an early 14-8 lead in the first quarter behind the running of Shane Potter and the passing of Brandon Bailey and Taylor Lewis. The two Bobcat passers were busy with a total of 25 passes with 13 completions for 166 yards.
The Bobcats added to their early lead with a 20 yard pass from Taylor Lewis to Paul Martinez! With the score at 20-8 in the Bobcats favor the Greyhounds decided to come alive and scored two quick touchdowns before the end of the first half and took the lead at 20-24. The difference at that time was two extra point conversions.
The second half started out great for the Bobcats with a 15 yard touchdown run by Justin Bohannon and Taylor Lewis' extra point kick that gave the Bobcats a 28-24 lead. But before the third quarter could end the Greyhounds came roaring back with a 38 yard touchdown run of their own to recapture the lead going into the fourth quarter at 30-28.
The fourth quarter got off to a bad start for the Bobcats when the Greyhounds extended their lead to 36-28 with a 10 yard touchdown pass from M.J. Abila. But, with only 4:12 remaining in the game the Bobcats tied the score with a 3 yard touchdown run by Justin Bohannon and a very important extra point conversion by Taylor Lewis. The Bobcats had several chances to score the winning touchdown during the final two minutes of regulation play but just couldn't quite break lose from the bend-but-don't-break Greyhound defense. This is the first overtime game for the Bobcats in quite a while.
The two coaches met at midfield to discuss the overtime process and to flip a coin to determine who gets the ball first. Not sure what happened in that huddle with the officials but the Bobcats took the ball first and went straight down the field and scored a touchdown on a 10 yard run by Justin Bohannon. Here's where things went just a little haywire and had a negative effect on the Bobcats and possibly cost them the game. The Greyhounds jumped offsides three straight times while trying to block the Bobcats' extra point attempt. It felt as if these three penalties simply disrupted the flow of the game and the tempo required for accurate extra point conversion. The snap, the hold and the kick of an extra point requires a certain rhythm in order to get that kick over the heads of 6 hard rushing opponents. It's much more difficult than it looks and that is why teams are awarded 2 points for a kick conversion. With the Bobcats' failure to convert that extra point, the Greyhounds gained a huge advantage! If they scored they would not have to kick and would have an option for a run or kick. This option made it very difficult for the Bobcats to defend. The Greyhound kicker, M.J. Abila made quick work of the overtime and sailed his kick straight through the uprights for a two point victory.
It was a tough loss for the Bobcats but we cannot say enough about the great job they did this season. It is really difficult for a small school such as ours to compete week in and week out with the big boys of six-man football but the Bobcats held their own in every single game except one. They can be proud of the job they did in division I and look forward to an even better 2010 as a playoff contender in division II. We'll all find out February 1st.
