Bobcats run into tough opponent in Cokeville

The Thermopolis Bobcats traveled to Cokeville last Friday for a game against the second place Panthers. With an early morning travel schedule, and after a nearly five hour bus ride, the Cats rolled into the western part of the state, and arrived in the town of Cokeville.

The Panthers are well known for historically operating a power-t offense, and the Cats came ready to defend that old-school formation. Holding the run, and forcing the Panthers into a passing offense, however, proved to be a bitter pill for the Bobcats’ league leading pass defense.

While holding the Panthers to just two rushing touchdowns, the Cats, uncharacteristically, gave up three passing touchdowns. The team was harmed most, however, by a string of turnovers, that included an interception and three fumbles. Unusually, the Cats had no take-aways for themselves.

“The Panthers have a very physical defense,” said Coach Boone Bowker, “and they were certainly going for the ball.”

He added, “We put up a good effort against the running game we had expected from the Panthers, and really pushed them out of their comfort zone. Unfortunately, their passing offense was better than we had anticipated.”

Even so, there were flashes of that impressive Bobcat defensive game: Midway through the third quarter, Defensive Back, Del Dukes, batted away a pass in the end-zone, which lead to a turn-over on downs by the Panthers.

The Bobcats only scoring drive came in the fourth quarter, on a touchdown pass from Quarterback, Armani Dukes, to Wide Receiver, Zach Hastie. At the final horn, the score was Bobcats 6 and Panthers 35.

Looking to this week against Lovell, Coach Bowker stated “The Bulldogs are a good team. They are big, fast and physical. They are the only team we have seen with an equally balanced offense of both passing and running. If we can keep the ball out of their hands, we can compete well against Lovell.”

The game against Lovell will be held in Lovell this Friday, October 20 at 7 p.m.