Bobcats fall to Sheffield
By Bart Moss for the FCT
The Phil Campbell Bobcats struggled to contain the speed of the Sheffield Bulldogs Friday night, losing 35-14.
Phil Campbell pieced together a solid first drive of the game, running 14 plays and seven and a half minutes off the clock. The Bobcats just couldn’t put the ball into the endzone.
A 15-yard penalty for a chop block and a 5-yard offside penalty crushed Phil Campbell’s momentum.
After giving the ball up on downs, the Sheffield Bulldogs took their first offensive snap with 4:30 to go in the first quarter. Fourteen seconds later, they were in the endzone on a 71-yard touchdown and leading 7-0.
“We had such a good first drive, but then we shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times,” said Bobcat coach Ryan Swinney. “Then, we just couldn’t contain that speed. We worked on that all week.”
It wasn’t the last time, either.
After a three-and-out, the Bulldogs took their second offensive snap to paydirt on a 58-yard touchdown run to give the Bulldogs a 14-0 lead with 2:49 to go in the first quarter.
After a good kickoff return, the Bobcats composed themselves and climbed right back in the game. Phil Campbell went 41 yards on eight plays to score. Imer Ordonez carried the ball into the endzone from one yard out to put Phil Campbell on the board.
Daniel Smith added the PAT to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 14-7.
Sheffield answered the Bobcats with another scoring drive aided by big plays of 33 yards and 21 yards and capped off with a 4-yard touchdown run. Sheffield led 21-7 with 9:12 remaining in the first half.
Sheffield extended the lead late in the first half when the Bulldogs intercepted a Bobcat pass and returned it 18 yards for a touchdown to make the score 28-7 at the half and scored early in the third quarter to give the Bulldogs a commanding 35-7 advantage.
Phil Campbell scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 25-yard pass from Peyton Thomas to Brodie Nix. Ridge Raper added the PAT to make the score 28-14.
“I thought we played better tonight offensively,” said Swinney. “We just didn’t contain on defense. It took us out of our game plan.”
Phil Campbell will celebrate homecoming Friday night, hosting Sulligent in a region matchup.
