OPENING POSSESSION TD ENOUGH FOR SEVENTH GRADE CATS

The Booneville Seventh Grade Bearcats started the season on a winning note by escaping Perryville 8-0 at Bearcat Stadium Thursday.

The Bearcats drove 76 yards to a 5-yard Hayden Daniel (shown) touchdown on their first possession. The drive took 11 plays.

The drive actually covered 81 yards due to a procedure penalty.

After Daniel, who finished with 65 yards on 12 carries, scored the touchdown, Caiden Poore, who ran for 52 yards on six attempts, added a two-point conversion which would be the final points of the game.

That was because the Bearcat defense, which had stopped the Mustangs on a fourth down at the Bearcat 24 on the game's first possession, repeatedly made big plays.

A third down stop by Braxton Ritchie forced the Mustangs to give the ball back to the Bearcats before halftime but a fumble would give it back to Perryville.

A Braxton Hubble sack got the Bearcats to halftime.

A failed fourth down put the Bearcat defense in a hole early in the second half but after a fourth down conversion, a sack by Ritchie led to a turnover on downs at the Bearcat 14-yard line.

From there the Bearcats moved across midfield before sputtering again but Ritchie broke up a pass and Sadler Miller made a fourth down stop in the final minute to allow the Bearcats to run out the clock.

The Bearcats will next play at Ozark on September 1.