To give you an opportunity to see what's new, and what has changed, we have taken the paywall down temporarily.
Currently, there is no need to log into the site.
We will provide instructions for creating new account and resetting passwords when the paywall is turned back on.
Berryville coach Macklin Chermak was looking for improvement from the Bobcats in their second game of the season on Friday, Sept. 13, against Greenland, and he saw it.
Berryville led twice in the first half before Greenland’s quickstrike offense grabbed all the momentum and the Pirates went on to a 47-21 victory at Bobcat Stadium.
“We played better,” said Chermak, whose team lost to Mountain View 24-7 on Sept. 6. “We saw some improvement from Week 1 to Week 2. I guess that was the important thing.”
Berryville sophomore John Butler scored three touchdowns — the first on a 29-yard pass from classmate CT Hicks on a fourth-down play to start the scoring and the second on a 13yard pinball-style run a little midway through the second quarter. Dennys Roca’s extra point put the Bobcats ahead 14-13 with 5:08 left in the first half.
It took Greenland (1-1) just two offensive plays to erase that lead and give itself a little breathing room. On the Pirates’ first play from scrimmage after Butler’s second score, a running back broke free for a 74-yard touchdown and Greenland converted the two-point conversion to go up 21-14. The Pirates then forced Berryville into a three-and-out and got the ball back at the Bobcats’ 35 after a shanked punt. The next play was a touchdown pass, with the extra point extending Greenland’s lead to 28-14.
Butler’s third touchdown came on a 10yard run after a direct snap with 6:22 remaining in the third quarter. Roca’s extra point made it 35-21.
With fewer than 30 players in uniform, depth continues to be an issue for the Bobcats (0-2).
“With so many players playing both ways, we got a little gassed in the second half and lost momentum and kind of let go of the rope a little bit,” Chermak said. “The game was a lot closer than the score suggested. They scored a couple of times late. But we saw a lot of improvement from Week 1 to Week 2.”
Greenland quarterback Slade Norwood completed 19 of 25 passes for 314 yards and five touchdowns. The Bobcats will face another tough QB this week when they face Yellville- Summit in their first road game of the season. The Panthers are 1-1 under first-year head coach Chaseton McCarthy. Yellville-Summit opened the season with a 55-7 road victory over Izard County on Aug. 30 before losing 20-13 at Hector last week. The Panthers are led by junior quarterback Noah Cantrall.
“They’re another kind of fast and wide kind of offense,” Chermak said. “Their quarterback can sling the ball down the field. He can also run around and make you miss quite a bit, too, so we definitely want to make sure we contain that a little bit.”
The Panthers are aggressive on defense, according to Chermak.
“It’s a defense that’s not going to adjust to you,” he said. “They’re going to fly around and have everybody stand up and run around and all that stuff. It makes it hard to get a beat on where to attack their defense, but hopefully it will cause them to have some assignment busts as well. The key will be to keep the scheme as basic as can be and hope you break through in a couple spots.”
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here