The Orangefield Bobcats stopped several rally attempts by the Bridge City Cardinals and took the Buzzie Gunn trophy back home with a 23-14 win Friday night.
OF opened the game with a patented four minute Slot-T drive. The drove 62 yards in nine plays with Cameron Dischler taking it in from five and the score.
But the Cardinals responded on their first play from scrimmage with an Ethan Oceguera pass to Jaris Brown for 54 yds. and a score.
The Bobcats appeared stopped on their second possession but a running into the punter penalty gave the Cats new life and four plays later quarterback Brayden Parker made an incredible 42 yd. run for a score to put OF up 14-7.
After a failed fourth down conversion at mid field by BC, the Bobcats got the ball back and Dischler would score from 14 but the point after snap was low and the attempt was missed.
BC would put together their best drive of the half that started with an 18 yard pass to Brown and a 13 yd reception by Joey Murty. Kyler Garlaska also ran well and finished the drive with a six yard score, cutting the lead to six.
With 3:34 left in the half, the Bobcats drove down the field and with time for one play before half, Tyler Butler booted a 33 yard field goal for a 23-14 lead.
Both teams struggled to score with their offenses in the second half after halftime adjustments were made. The Cards also missed a few opportunities with a fumble at the OF 15. They also failed to convert on a short field after a Bobcat fake punt attempt failed.
Cade Smith stopped another Cardinal drive with an interception and when they needed a field goal, down by nine, a penalty backed them out of field goal range.
Orangefield would match their season average with 349 yards of offense to 260 for BC. Dischler went over the 1000 yard mark for the season with 130yds. and two scores.
“It was tough win,” said winning coach Josh Smalley. “I was really worried about this game because of the rivalry and because we could see on film how much the Cardinals had improved since the beginning of the season.”
The Bobcats host Hamshire-Fannett Friday after a 36-35 loss to Silsbee. BC will play Liberty.
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