For the third time in four years a Booneville team has taken down an opponent from within a Class 6A school.
This time it was Head Coach Jacob Hattabaugh and the Seventh Grade Bearcats with a 14-8 win over Butterfield Tuesday night at Blakemore Field in Van Buren.
Current seniors beat Mountain Home as freshmen and current sophomores beat Russellville last year.
Ironically, it was a kickoff that all but closed it out for the Bearcats (4-1) in Van Buren.
Though a seventh grade Bearcat has not kicked off in years – typically the ball is placed at the opponent’s 30-yard line – this game was played with kickoffs, but not punts.
That meant Cooper Smithson kicked off. His third effort of the night came after the Bearcats had gone ahead 14-8 on a 1-yard run by Drake Brackney.
The kick caromed off a Butterfield player and his 40 and Brackney pounced on it at the 41.
Two Smithson runs got nine yards and after Brackney kept for two yards and a first down and all that remained were two kneel downs.
Smithson finished the night with 74 yards on 11 carries and he also scored a touchdown on a pass from Brackney.
That came on a play that covered 12 yards to complete the first Bearcat possession. Smithson had run for 56 yards on the drive.
Edwin Garcia (shown along with Smithson in a previous game) got the nose of the football across the plane for a two-point conversion and an 8-0 lead.
Van Buren would drive to the Bearcat 9-yard line after Smithson kicked off but a first down stop by Smithson and Wyatt Danekas resulted in one lost yard and a fumble pushed the Pointers back to the 17.
A third down pass fell incomplete and Parker Sing and Garcia made a fourth down stop at the 5 after a completion.
Butterfield had 65 yards passing in the game but only 18 on the ground.
After the turnover on downs and a false start the Bearcats got a couple of carries from Brackney to move the chains.
Brackney then connected with Garcia for 21 yards and Smithson, on a double pass, hit Danekas for 22 to get the Bearcats to the Pointer 20.
After a spike to stop the clock Brackney suffered an interception of the final play of the half.
The Bearcats started the second half with the ball, but a fumble gave Butterfield the ball on the Bearcats side of the field and the Pointers took advantage, scoring three plays later on a 25-yard pass.
A two-point conversion tied it at 8-8.
The Bearcats were forced to punt on their next possession but a Karson Tillery negative yardage play and Toby Weaver stopping a receiver well short on third down helped induce one by the Pointers.
Starting from their 30 the Bearcats drove to the winning score with Brackney running 11 yards for one first down and Garcia rumbling 44 yards to move the ball to the Pointer 2.
Brackney scored two plays later to make it 14-8, setting up the muffed kickoff recovery.
The Bearcats will play a second game this week when the host Mansfield at 5:30 Thursday. The game starts at 5:30, minus a live kickoff.
SEVENTH GRADE BEARCATS TAKE DOWN BUTTERFIELD
