Phil Campbell’s Joe Hardy powers through the Mars Hill players on his way down the field. Photo by Bart Moss.

By Bart Moss

For the FCT

The Phil Campbell Bobcats recorded their second straight win with a 34-20 victory over the upstart Mars Hill Panthers.

The Bobcats used a powerful running attack piling up 347 rushing yards on the night. The win improved the Bobcats record to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the region.

Even with the homecoming win, Phil Campbell coach Ryan Swinney sees plenty of room for improvement for his young Bobcat team.

“I am pleased to get a win tonight,” said Swinney.

“I don’t think we played as well as we did against Sumiton Christian last week, but we got out of here with a homecoming win. We are 1-0 in the region and one step closer to our goal of making the playoffs.

“We made too many mistakes tonight that we can’t make against the teams we are about to play. We had too many penalties and laid the football on the ground too much. If we are going to get to where we want to be, we are going to have to correct those kinds of errors.”

The errors Swinney was referring to were the 70 yards in penalties and laying the football on the ground four times even though the Bobcats only lost one fumble.

The Bobcats established the ground game on the first play from scrimmage when Tristen Godsey sprinted 45 yards to set up Phil Campbell’s first score. A few plays later, Godsey connected with tight end Noah Williams on a 28-yard pass to the two yard line.

Colby Baker powered his way into the end zone from two yards out to cap off the 11-play, 66-yard drive to put the Bobcats on the board first, 6-0, midway through the first quarter.

The Bobcats stopped a good Mars Hill drive when Joe Hardy recovered a Panther fumble. Phil Campbell began to move the ball again largely behind Hardy who caught a 23-yard pass from Thomas and had runs of 19, seven and two yards. Thomas capped off the drive with a quarterback keeper from one-yard out to make the score 12-0 midway through the second quarter.

A defensive breakdown on Mars Hill’s first play from scrimmage on the next drive resulted in an 80-yard touchdown run by the Panthers to close the gap to 12-7 with 6:05 to go in the first half.

The Bobcats responded with another methodical drive going 75 yards in nine plays ending in a two-yard touchdown run by Baker with 1:10 to go in the first half. Hardy added a PAT to make the halftime score 19-7.

Mars Hill opened the second half scoring on a 65-yard run by the quarterback to make the score 19-14.

Phil Campbell responded with a big play on the first play from scrimmage after the kickoff. Colby Baker broke through several tackles before sprinting 65-yards to pay dirt. After Hardy’s PAT, the Bobcats extended their lead to 26-14.

Mars Hill closed the gap to 26-20 on a 10-yard touchdown run with 9:29 to go in the third quarter.

The Bobcats finally put some distance between themselves and the Panthers with 5:38 to go in the game on an eight-yard touchdown run by Baker. A two-point conversion pass from Peyton Thomas to Godsey made the score 34-20.

Colby Baker finished the game with 20 carries, 172 yards and four touchdowns. Godsey added seven carries for 110 yards.