The Sebastopol Bobcats started the 2019 football season by traveling to Clarkdale to take on the Bulldogs last Friday night. Second year head coach Nicky Mooney and the Bobcats were looking to get off to a good start this season and accomplished just that by going on the road and defeating Clarkdale 20-10.
It’s common to see low scoring football games during the early part of a new season because the defensive units normally click together more quickly that on the offensive side of the ball. That was the case at Clarkdale High School. The defenses were outplaying the offenses throughout a majority of the first half with the teams only combining for 10 points over the first two quarters.
The home team Bulldogs were the first to put points on the board with a field goal midway through the first quarter. The Bobcats were unable to get anything going on offense in the first quarter, but started to move the ball in the second quarter.
Late in the second quarter Sebastopol moved the ball deep into Clarkdale territory with a big play and had first-and-goal to go from the 3-yard line with 2 minutes left before the half. Coach Mooney called in Jaden Mann’s number and he answered the call with a 3-yard run scoring run to give Sebastopol the lead at 7-3, after the point after was kicked through the uprights by Caleb Leach.
That would be all the scoring for the first half, and the teams would head to the locker rooms with the visiting Bobcats holding a slim lead.
After the teams returned to the field, Clarkdale kicked off to Sebastopol to start the second half. The Bobcats put together a short drive and moved the ball across mid field before Mann broke loose and took the ball to the house from 36-yards out. The scoring drive covered 60-yards and took less than three minutes off the clock, after missing the PAT the Bobcats held a 13-3 lead early in the third quarter.
For the remainder of the third quarter both teams’ defenses stiffened up and would not let the other team put together a scoring drive. The teams exchanged turnovers on downs as well as turnovers, but no points were added on the score board. Late in the third Sebastopol blocked a Clarkdale punt and recovered the ball close to mid field on their own 43-yard line as time ran out in the quarter.
As the fourth quarter started to tick away, the Bobcats offense began to methodically move the ball across midfield and in to Clarkdale territory once again. The Bobcats did a great job of running clock on that drive, and with 8 minutes left in the game, on first down from the Bulldog 16-yard line, Mann broke free and scampered to the end zone to put the Bobcats up 20-3 after Leach added the PAT.
The Bulldogs would score late to make the score appear closer than it actually was, but Bobcats came away with the 20-10 road win to move to 1-0 on the season.
Sebastopol will host the Enterprise Yellowjackets this Friday night at Bobcat Field. The game is set to kick off at 7:00 p.m.
