OF 0 14 0 7 3- 24
Liberty 7 0 14 0 0- 0- 21
The game is called football. It was appropriate that the game Friday night at F. L. McClain Stadium came down to two kicks to decide the outcome of the contest. The first kick just missed for what would have been the game winning field goal. The second kick was true and gave the Orangefield Bobcats a thrilling 24-21 overtime victory against the Liberty Panthers.
The Bobcats’ Matthew Rainey put his left foot into the ball and it sailed 25 yards through the uprights for the game winning field goal in the first overtime. Orangefield (5-4, 2-1) is assured a playoff spot with the win. Liberty (3-5, 0-2) had a chance to win the game on the final play of regulation, but Trevor Pierce’s 35-yard field goal was pulled just wide left.
Orangefield wanted to use its power running game; the Panthers loaded the box and contained the Bobcats for the most part. Liberty came into the game with the second best defense statistically in the district, and the Panthers lived up to that yielding only 249 yards to the Bobcats who came in averaging over 280 yards a game.
Liberty came into the game ranked last in total offense in the district, but changed up their offensive lineup to start the second half and took the lead in the third quarter. Tino Briggs played quarterback the first half for the Panthers and scored their only touchdown on a 25-yard run. At the start of the third quarter he was moved to a wingback and freshman J. J. Slack moved in at quarterback.
Taking the second half kickoff Liberty drove 60 yards in eight plays to tie the game 14-14. Briggs twice took pitches on sweeps from his wing position for 14 and 20 yards. Slack got the touchdown on a one-yard run around right end.
On their second possession of the second half the Panthers did it again, only quicker. Briggs fumbled on another sweep, but teammate J. J. Arrington scooped up the loose ball and turned the near disaster into a 50-yard gain to the Orangefield 35. Two plays later on a flea-flicker Slack handed the ball to wide receiver Jarius Hill on a fake end around, Hill then flipped it to Briggs who tossed it downfield to Slack in the end zone for a 38-yard touchdown giving the Panthers a 21-14 advantage with 3:46 to play in the third quarter.
The Bobcat juggernaut got rolling on the next possession. Orangefield ran the football 15 times and marched 64 yards for the score. A great second effort by Matthew Watkins on a quarterback sneak picked up a first down on fourth-and-one at the Liberty 43. Later Watkins scrambled away from pressure on an apparent pass play on third-and-6 for a 16-yard gain to the four yard line. Three plays later Watkins snuck over from the one. Rainey’s kick made it 21-21 with still 9:03 left in the fourth quarter.
Both teams had opportunities to pull the game out in regulation. The Bobcats took the ball after a very short punt by Liberty at their own 43 with 5:19 to play. Watkins broke a tackle and gained 14 yards to the Liberty 40. There they stalled and Watkins’ punt just missed going out of bounds inside the five as the ball went into the end zone by the pylon for a touchback.
Taking over at the 20 with just over three minutes left in regulation, the Panthers had a third-and-8 when Briggs swept right end for 9 yards and a first down. Briggs took a handoff from Slack and threw a flat pass back to Slack that gained 4 yards. The two then hooked up for a more conventional pass play as Slack lofted a beautiful pass that Briggs caught in full stride for a 33-yard completion before being knocked out-of-bounds at the Orangefield 32.
Only seconds were left in the fourth quarter. Liberty called a timeout and then ran Alex Brown their big halfback for 14 yards to the 18 before calling another timeout with just three seconds left. As Pierce was lining up for the potential game winning 35-yard field goal, Orangefield called a timeout to freeze him. Pierce actually proceeded to kick the ball after time was called and it was short and to the right. He would get another chance. Pierce’s second kick was much better with plenty of distance, but the referee under the left upright signaled the kick was wide left forcing overtime.
Liberty possessed the ball first in the overtime. The Orangefield defense rose to the occasion. It held Brown to two yards on first down. Briggs got 6 yards with second effort on second down. Slack slipped on an option play and lost one yard to setup fourth-and-three. Briggs got the call again on a sweep, but the Bobcats were waiting for him making him retreat before cutting up field and Briggs was stopped for no gain by a host of Orangefield tacklers.
Once again Watkins had the key carry on Orangefield’s overtime possession. Matthew popped an 11-yard carry on the first play to immediately put the Bobcats in field goal range. Watkins was the leading ball carrier on the night with 108 yards on 25 carries and two touchdowns. He now has 1013 yards on the season and 10 touchdowns. Three more running plays led up to Rainey’s game winning kick.
The Panthers scored the first time they had the ball in the first quarter. Brown carried twice for 39 yards, and Briggs got the touchdown on a 25-yard option run to the left.
Orangefield answered with two straight long scoring drives. Watkins completed an 11-play, 65-yard drive with his first touchdown on a 5-yard run. After an interception by Zach Norman the Bobcats used 11 running plays before Watkins passed 4 yards to Cale Puckett for the score that gave Orangefield a 14-7 lead at the half.
Next week is the bye for the Orangefield Bobcats. They close out the regular season in two weeks at Hamshire-Fannett in a game that could decide second place in District 9-4A, Division II. The Panthers play Hamshire-Fannett next Friday in Liberty. -Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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