BEARCATS BUILD 35 POINT LEAD, COAST TO HOMECOMING WIN

The Booneville Bearcats scored touchdowns on their first five possessions Friday night against Greenland and coasted to a 41-14 homecoming night win.

The longest of the scoring drives covered just 52 yards with the advantageous field position created by a combination of a stingy defense and a purposefully short punting game.

Besides being relatively short, none of the scoring drives would be of any significant length including the first two of which took just two plays.

The Bearcats (4-2, 3-0 Conference 3A-1) started their initial possession on the Greenland 36-yard line.

Rylen Ray got 18 yards, Greenland (1-5, 0-3) jumped offside, and Dax Goff went 13 yards for the first score of the game.

That run pushed Goff past the 4,000-yard mark in career rushing. He ended the game in third place all time and takes over the top spot by rushing for 260 more yards this season.

The duo of Ray and Goff would go on to lead the way with 99 yards for Ray on seven carries and Goff 89 on just six, four of which would be touchdowns.

The Ray, then Goff formula worked again on the second drive with Ray getting nine and Goff 36 and a touchdown and it was 14-0 after the Juan Moreno with 6:20 left in the first quarter.

The Bearcats changed up the attack on the third drive with Jace Washburn just missing a connection with Dakota Mattson to start the drive, but ultimately handing to Ray for nine and a touchdown to complete the drive and it was 21-0, still in the first quarter.

Washburn would connect with Mattson for 11, and with Rhett Nietert for a couple of yards during the fourth drive.

That drive ended when Goff went 14 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-0 with 8:55 to go in the first half.

Picking up 33 yards in two carries, Washburn used his legs to start the fifth drive, which was again finished by Goff on a 10-yard run and it was 35-0.

The Bearcats would get the ball back before the half – Greenland had 25 yards of offense in the half – but elected to have Washburn take a knee three times and bring on Moreno to attempt a 50-yard field goal.

The would-be record tying effort was just short.

The Bearcats started the second half with the football – they had deferred after winning the coin toss – but would see a penalty wipe out one good gain and see an interception start a three turnover second half.

The interception would be offset with a scoop and score by Clayton Green, but that was negated by a block in the back during the return.

The Bearcats would ultimately reach the Pirate 31 with a first down but a fumble that was returned by the Pirates for a touchdown would stand and it was 35-7 with a little over five minutes to go in the third quarter.

Reaching the Pirate 3 the Bearcats kept the ball the rest of the quarter then handed to Garrick Barr on successive plays to start the final quarter with Barr getting into the end zone to make it 41-7 – the PAT was blocked.

Greenland moved into Bearcat territory with the ensuing possession but fumbled the ball with Oliver Loaeza recovering.

However, the Bearcats fumbled it back on the next play and the Pirates got a 22-yard scoring run on what would be the final play from scrimmage in the game to set the final at 41-14.

The Bearcats finished with 348 total yards. The final play pushed the Pirated to 110 total yards.

Up next for the Bearcats is Mansfield, led by former Bearcat coach Whit Overton. The Tigers at 5-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play after a 14-7 loss at Charleston last Friday.