BEARCAT STADIUM WITNESSES 80TH SHUTOUT

By blanking the Mansfield Tigers 35-0 Friday night, the 2022 Booneville Bearcats registered the 80th shutout of an opponent inside Bearcat Stadium.

With a shutout on the Home of Champions turf a Bearcat team has held at least one opponent scoreless in 41 of the stadium’s 55 years of service.

The most shutouts for any single year was the five posted by the 1984 team. The 1988, 1998, and 2005 defenses also kept four visitors off the scoreboard.

Prior to Friday, the last shutout had been a playoff 42-0 drumming of Manila last November for the second shutout of the season – the Danville forfeit in 2021 is counted as a shutout as the final is officially 2-0.

Manila became the 29th different shutout victim in the second round playoff game last year and the forfeit earned Danville its fourth goose egg at the intersection of Underwood Circle and D.J. George Drive.

Manila joined a list of playoff foes going home without scoring in Booneville that includes Baptist Prep, Lincoln, Marianna Lee, Huntsville, Rivercrest, Berryville, Junction City, Prairie Grove, and West Fork.

Friday marked the eighth time Mansfield was on the receiving end of a zero, but the Tigers are not the school to suffer the most shutouts on what was renamed Doug Scheel Field.

That would be Subiaco at nine shutouts at Booneville’s home since 1968. Before Friday Clarksville was tied with Mansfield at seven shutouts with both Charleston and Paris accounting for six.

Charleston was actually the first victim, in the inaugural game of the inaugural season in 1968.

For comparison sake, the 80 shutouts means one occurs in just under one-fourth of the games (80 of 332 or 24.1 percent).

Also for comparison sake, opponents have won just 61 times to date, a winning percentage of .185.

Friday’s win also pushed the overall Bearcat Stadium victory count to 270.