This past Friday, September 23, the winless Bobcats headed west across the mountain to face the 3-1 Heritage Generals. The Bobcats rolled into town looking to win for the third consecutive year in a row against the Generals.

The Generals won the toss and elected to receive the ball to start the game.

The Generals started strong. On the second play of the game, the Generals found a way to score. With 11:03 on the clock, Quarterback Corbee Wilson found wide receiver Luke Grant with a 78-yard pass for the first touchdown of the night. The PAT was good, putting the Generals up 7-0 over the Bobcats

The Bobcats began their first drive on their own 23 yard line.

Looking for a good start on offense, the Bobcats came out throwing. Quarterback David Smith dropped back from the 43 yard line to find Griffin Cagle on a 39 yard pass, putting the Bobcats in great scoring position.

The Bobcats made it to the 15-yard line, but gave up a interception. The Generals took it back 65 yards.

The Generals offense came back out on the 10-yard line after the interception, but the Bobcats defense held them to a three and out. Alex Ahlyege’s 24-yard field goal attempt was good, putting the Generals up 10-0 with 5:43 left in the first.

The Bobcats came out for their second Offensive possession, but the Generals defense caused them to go three and out.

With good field position after the Bobcat punt, Corbee Wilson found Blake Bryan for a 29-yard touchdown to put the Generals up 17-0 with 1:53 left in the first.

The Bobcats punted the ball to start the 2nd quarter.

After a successful second possession, the Generals found the end zone once again. Corbee Wilson scrambled out and kept the ball for a 10-yard touchdown, putting the Generals up over the Bobcats 24-10 with 10:48 left in the second.

In their next possession, driving down the field, the Bobcats looked like they were about to score, but Quarterback David Smith dropped back to throw to intended receiver Griffin Cagle, ending in an interception.

The Generals came back out on the 50-yard line with 5:58 on the clock. Not missing a beat, the Generals offense would drive down to score for the third time in the 2nd quarter. Corbee Wilson found Trent Kiniry for the 20-yard touchdown, putting the Generals up 31-0 with 4:12 left in the half.

Both teams had a hard time trying to find the end zone before the end of the first half.

After halftime, both coaches chose to use the running clock for the second half since the Generals were up by 31.

The Bobcats received the ball to start the second half. Looking for a touchdown, David Smith found Griffin Cagle for a 52-yard touchdown, putting the Bobcats on the board. Casas missed the PAT making the score 6-31 with 7:31 left in the third quarter.

With the running clock on, the Generals ran the third quarter out leaving the score at 31-6.

Midway into the fourth, the Bobcats scored again. Junior running back Chris Pruett scored from 51-yards out. With the Generals up on the Bobcats 31-13, they had a confident lead with 5:38 left in the game.

The Generals continued to run the clock out, winning the game 31-13 and marking the Bobcats’ fifth straight loss.

I caught up with Coach Wingard after the tough loss. I asked him what the plan was for next week. He stated,

“Next week is Pickens. It’s a huge rivalry game. We had a tough loss tonight, but we have to get the kids to believe in us and in themselves. The stuff we are coaching them is going to sink in eventually. It showed a lot Thursday when our JV won their first game this season. We’ve also got to simplify a lot of things. Once we get that rolling, we’ll start seeing good in the kids, but the biggest thing I want right now from the kids is to stay positive.”

The Bobcats will play rival Pickens Dragons this Friday at home.