Bobcats earn hard fought win in Kemmerer

The varsity Bobcats football team made the long 4 hour bus ride over South Pass to Kemmerer last Friday and came away with a tough win against the home team. The Rangers had been undefeated coming into the contest and proved to be a tough opponent on their home field.

The game was low scoring, with the two defenses working hard to limit their opponents yardage. In the first quarter, punting from their own side of the field, the Kemmerer kicker missed the ball on the kick, resulting in a turn-over to Thermopolis on the Kemmerer 35 yard line. Facing a 4th and 2 from the 17, quarterback, Armani Dukes, ran the ball into the end-zone on a keeper. The PAT (point-after kick) hit the left up-right, and the Cats were then up 6 to zero over the Rangers.

In the second quarter, a muffed punt by the Cats left the Rangers at the Thermopolis 10 yard line. The tough defense of the Bobcats held Kemmerer to a field goal, and the score was Thermopolis 6, and Kemmerer 3.

Later in the quarter, senior, Zane Stam, ran the ball into the end-zone – breaking a number of would-be tackles along the way. After a successful two-point conversion, at half-time, the score was Thermopolis 14 and Kemmerer 3.

A blocked punt by Kemmerer in the third quarter resulted in a grab and go touch-down, that with a successful PAT kick, left the score at 14 to 10 – with the Bobcats on the right side of the scoreboard.

Although Thermopolis would put up a touch-down in the fourth quarter – on a scramble and pass by junior, Armani Dukes to brother, Del Dukes, the play would be called back by an illegal man down field call.

At games end, the Cats won by a score of 14 to 10. All of the Bobcats scoring came by their offense, while the Cats strong defense held the Rangers to just 82 yards of total offense in the first half and just 200 yards by the end of the game. All of Kemmerer’s scoring came off of their special teams play.

After the game, coach Boone Bowker, commented, “We looked better on offense. We were successful pounding the ball up the middle, and the defense continues to play really well. We just need to clean up some special teams issues. Kemmerer has some real dudes, and that’s a scary offense that our defense held out of the end-zone all game. The defense held down the Rangers ground game, and forced them to have to pass.”

The Bobcats now sit in third place – tied with Kemmerer at 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the division.

This week the Cats will travel to Lovell to play the Bulldogs on Friday, Sept. 27.