It seems like district wins should count double, one for the regular season and one for the district season. Friday night the Orangefield Bobcats won a huge district game 27-16 over the Hamshire-Fannett Longhorns at F. L. McClain Stadium. The win almost assures the Bobcats will go to the playoffs.
The win was not necessarily pretty for Orangefield (4-4, 1-1), but with the victory the Bobcats can clinch a postseason appearance with a win next week against Hardin-Jefferson. The loss does not mathematically eliminate Hamshire-Fannett (1-8, 0-3) from the playoffs, but they will need a win in the last game of the season also against Hardin-Jefferson and help with a Hardin-Jefferson win over Orangefield for any chance to go to the postseason.
Defensively the Bobcats played a superb game holding Hamshire-Fannett’s star running back Tyrese White to only 32yards until the last three minutes of the game. The Longhorns kept their hopes alive by recovering a Bobcat fumble with just over three minutes to play in the game.
White ripped off his longest run of the night so far for 12 yards to the 36 on the first play. On the next play White swept left end, found a seam, and sprinted 63 yards before being hauled down at the Bobcat one. Quarterback Matt Conkle sneaked in for the score to cut the Orangefield lead to 27-16 with 2:20 to play in the game. The Longhorns went for two, but Conkle fumbled the snap and was tackled for a loss.
Orangefield scored 24 straight points from late in the first quarter to late in the third quarter to build a 17-point lead. In those 22 minutes the Bobcats played very well scoring points four of the five times they had the ball.
After Tiler Paine kicked a 30-yard field goal to give Hamshire-Fannett a 10-3 advantage it took Orangefield one play to tie the game. Wesley Frillou broke a running play 67 yards for the touchdown with one second left in the first quarter. Jacob Rainey added the point-after to make the score 10-10.
With five minutes left in the half Orangefield took possession at its own 23. Eleven running plays later the Bobcats had the lead 17-10. Frillou busted another long run of 44 yards on the first play from scrimmage. Christopher McGee and Caleb Kress got some hard yards on the drive. Kress scored from the two with just 11 seconds left in the half to put Orangefield in front.
Picking up where they left off to start the second half the Bobcats went 69 yards in six plays to go up by two scores. Frillou capped the scoring drive with a 35-yard scamper. He finished the night with 178 yards on 17 carries.
The next series Hamshire-Fannett’s Conkle fumbled and the Bobcats’ Braddley Brister recovered at the Longhorns’ 40. Orangefield picked up two first downs resulting in a first-and-goal at the five. The Longhorns’ defense stiffened so Rainey kicked a 22-yard field goal to make the score 27-10 with 4:39 to play in the third quarter.
Another Longhorn error helped Orangefield open the scoring early in the game. After three running plays netted only five yards the Longhorns were forced to punt, but the long snap eluded punter Paine, and he was tackled for an 18-yard loss giving Orangefield the ball at the Hamshire-Fannett 17.
The Bobcats’ Slot-T running game could manage zero yards on three plays. Rainey kicked his first of two field goals from 34 yards out to give Orangefield the first lead of the game 3-0 with 3:35 gone in the contest.
The Longhorns took the lead with 3:49 gone in the game when Spencer Hallam took the ensuing line drive kickoff straight up the middle of the field untouched for an 83-yard return. Paine made the point after to give Hamshire-Fannett a 7-3 advantage.
The Bobcats ran 54 plays in the ball game not counting the last two kneel downs to end the game. Only one was a pass and it was intercepted by Hamshire-Fannett’s Trent Chatman to setup the next Longhorns’ points.
A facing mask penalty after a first down run by White moved the ball to the Bobcats’ 14. There the Orangefield defense made a stand led by a great third down stop by Zach Norman to drop Conkle for a 3-yard loss. Paine kicked the field goal that made the score 10-3 with just 16 seconds left in the first quarter. The Bobcats then ran-off 24 unanswered points to secure the win.
Next Friday night the Orangefield Bobcats go on the road to Sour Lake to play the Hardin-Jefferson Hawks. A win by the Bobcats would secure a berth in the playoffs. Hamshire-Fannett has its open week next Friday and resumes action in the final week of the regular season at home against Hardin-Jefferson.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
photo by Darren Hoyland
HF 10 0 0 6- 16
OF 10 7 10 0- 27
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