The Orangefield Bobcats played their first game of the season last week. It was the first varsity game for 11 Bobcat sophomores and it was a painful learning experience for them as they lost 35 to 7.
This week Orangefield plays its first road game of the season. Coach Josh Smalley looked at the Beaumont Kelly offense. The Bulldogs are a spread team which will pass the football primarily, but will also run it out of the Spread. “They’ve got some weapons offensively and they’ve got a good scheme to get you out of position, and so we’ve got our work cut out for us Friday night to try to slow those guys down.” Smalley analyzed.
The Bulldog offense starts with quarterback Logan Henke who is a returning starter for Kelly. Johnathan Patterson will be the leading ball carrier for the Bulldogs. Slot receiver Earl Robertson may be their best athlete and will be the first target for passes from Henke.
Base defenses are usually thrown out when playing the Bobcats and Smalley believes that will be the case Friday against the Bulldogs. Their base is a 4-2-5, but Coach Smalley anticipates seeing another goal line defense with eight men in the box and man-to-man coverage since the Bobcats do not show many wide receivers.
Personnel wise for Kelly, Patterson will be the center of the defense at middle linebacker. Their two defensive tackles Alonzo Morgan and Christian Guillory are both very good. Morgan especially is a man-mountain in the middle of the Bulldogs’ defensive line. Smalley commented, “I’ve seen much improvement from Kelly this year with a new coach and a new attitude. Defensively they get after you.”
Another week of practice and a second time under the bright lights of Friday night, Coach Smalley is confident his young Orangefield Bobcats will play better at Beaumont Kelly. The first shot at playing on Friday night was an eye opener for most of the 11 sophomores. The coach said the loss was more a lack of execution than a lack of effort.
Kelly is similar to Orangefield in that the Bulldogs have a lot of players starting on both offense and defense, so conditioning could be a factor, and Smalley is hoping his Bobcats will be in better shape. “I think our execution is going to be a little bit better Friday night, hopefully our effort is the same if not better, and then we can give our fans something to be proud of and hopefully come home with a victory,” Smalley concluded.
The Orangefield Bobcats travel to Beaumont on Friday night. The Bobcats play the Kelly Bulldogs with the kickoff at 7:00 PM.
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