The Hemingford Bobcats kicked off their season on August 26, where they had played a non-conference game against the Leyton Warriors .
The Bobcats have a small roster full of underclassmen this season, Head Coach Joshua Dean noted, but they still put in the effort.
“With our roster size being small, we get plenty of reps with one practice. Also, the young men on the football team are involved with many other things, work, fair, etc. So, we like to honor their other commitments as well. We practice hard for one practice and then support them in their other interests. We’ve been working on a lot in practice leading up to our game versus Leyton, but beginning the season with many new faces in new positions, it was of utmost importance that we get our alignment and assignment on point,” said Dean.
The Warriors put the first points on the board with eight in the first quarter followed by the Bobcats forcing a safety and gaining two points, bringing the score at the end of the first quarter to 8-2, with the Warriors in the lead. The warriors came in with a scoring frenzy in the second quarter with 27 unanswered points making the score 35-2 going into halftime.
“Turnovers, and missed assignments. Offensively we were able to move the ball some in the first quarter with a long drive. We were playing the style of play we wanted to early on. After that drive, Leyton adjusted their defense and we missed too many assignments against Leyton’s defensive adjustment. Turnovers forced our defense to defend a short field several times in the second quarter too. What I like though is that the young men kept fighting back. Leyton had some explosive plays, but our guys were disciplined enough to continue the fight with positivity,” said Dean.
Coming in after halftime the Warriors scored another six. The Bobcats still hadn’t put any more points on the board, making the score at the end of the third 41-2. The Bobcats came alive in the fourth and put eight points on the board, but so did the Warriors, making the final score of the game 49-10.
“Friday was the first time we were able to go against a full live special teams, defense, and offense. With 11 players on the roster we have to get creative with how we do live reps in practice. As creative as we are, we still can’t give the young men a true game day look. We were really excited to see how the young men would respond to that live contact, and we were pleased with how they responded. Now we must grow off our first competition,” said Dean.
Offensively, Quarterback Cody Galles led the Bobcats in yards for the game with 103, scoring a touchdown.
“I thought I played pretty well for the first game of the season. There’s still a lot of room for growth for me and the team, but I had a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season,” said Galles.
“Cody Galles ran the ball hard from the quarterback position. I was proud of how Owen Plog handled the center position as a freshman. He is the point on the offensive line and he made a lot of good internal line calls,” said Dean.
Defensively, Theron Miller put on a performance, with six and a half tackles, with five of them being for a loss, and he forced one fumble with a safety. Talon Payne had a fumble recovery and two assisted tackles with 57 yards.
“Defensively Theron Miller played with a high energy motor the entire game. He brings a lot of energy to the team. Talon Payne had a great scoop on a fumble and showed a lot of toughness throughout the entire evening. Many other individuals led to multiple positive things throughout the evening. Thank you to the community for coming out and supporting our young men on the gridiron. We felt your energy the entire evening and are thankful for your support. The young men really fed off of that through the momentum shifts,” said Dean.
The Bobcats will take on Sutherland in a non-district game on Friday in their first away game of the season.
(Photos by Shaun Friedrichsen/Alliance Times-Herald)