GOFF CONTINUES ASSAULT ON RECORD BOOK; BEARCATS DESTROY DREW CENTRAL

For some reason, Drew Central, after winning the opening coin toss, deferred its option until the second half, essentially demanding the Bearcats take the football first Friday night.

The Bearcats scored on that first possession, scored six more times before halftime and led 49-0 on the way to a 56-14 Class 3A opening round playoff win.

By halftime the Bearcats (9-2) had already run for 306 yards and thrown for another 66 yards.

Already the career rushing leader, Dax Goff needed 43 yards to become the first Bearcat to run for 5,000 yards.

That was accomplished on the opening possession the Pirates (2-8) insisted the Bearcats take.

Covering 11 plays, one of which was a touchdown called back due to a penalty, it would actually be one of the longer Bearcat drives of the night. It ended with a scoring run of 8 yards by Goff (shown celebrating with teammates).

Goff had been the victim of the penalty that had negated a 7-yard scoring run.

With 73 touchdowns scored in his career at that point, Goff needed three more to match the career mark of 76 that was shared by Bryson May and Randon Ray – the later who Goff played with as a sophomore.

That was accomplished by the 11:13 mark of the second quarter.

To get there Goff first returned a punt 64 yards for a touchdown.

That came, Goff said, after he noticed a flag he suspected – correctly – was on Drew Central, removing any pressure for fielding the ball cleanly, which he did, then hit the edge for 64 yards and touchdown 74.

Drew Central got a 61-yard return on the ensuing kickoff but would still be forced to punt and the Bearcats took over at their 20 after a touchback.

Goff scored the next play but the points were removed and the 80-yard effort was trimmed to just 24 due to another flag.

Jace Washburn got back 35 yards with a pass to Conner Lentz and Goff eventually got touchdown 75 from the 4.

With Lentz’s two point conversion run it was 21-0 with 1:26 left in the first quarter.

Drew Central punted on the first play of the second quarter and the Bearcats pushed the lead to 28-0 on Goff’s fourth touchdown of the night.

The senior carried for 7, 50, then the final 2 for the career tying touchdown 76th touchdown with 11:13 left in the first half.

Obviously a fifth touchdown would surpass May and Ray, but it would also give Goff 33 touchdowns during the season, which would tie Carson Ray’s 2018 single season record total.

That was accomplished at the 8:41 mark of the second quarter.

It was another quick strike. A four play drive that included a 3-yard completion to Dakota Mattson, and an 11-yard run by Chase Shelton got the ball to the Pirate 41.

Goff scored from there and it was 35-0.

Again obviously, one more – a sixth – would mean the single season record belonged to Goff as well.

With still 2:38 on the second quarter clock that was accomplished as well.

With a 28-yard completion to Lentz and a run of 25 yards Washburn did a lot of the heavy lifting before Goff went 3 yards for the next record breaker that made it 42-0.

Goff is just the fourth Bearcat to score six touchdowns in a game. He is, however, the first to do it in the postseason, surpassing the five Cody Elliott scored in the last Bearcat playoff win, at Melbourne last year.

Goff was finished – 17 carries for 199 yards – but, the Bearcats were not done.

A Rhett Nietert interception gave the Bearcats the ball back in Pirate territory and two plays later Lentz went 19 yards for a touchdown to make it 49-0.

Punctuating a half in which the Pirates managed 14 total yards, Dylan Todd recovered a fumble on the final play of the half.

Out of the halftime break the Bearcat defense got a sack from Clayton Green and then made it three straight possessions with a turnover caused when Frank Gil pounced on a loose football at the Pirate 10.

Garrick Barr scored three plays later and Juan Moreno kicked his sixth point after – one was blocked – to make it 56-0.

Drew Central would score twice in the final quarter with both scores coming in the air.

The Pirates would end the game with minus 8 yards rushing, becoming the second straight opponent to leave Bearcat Stadium with negative rushing yardage.

The Pirates were 1-of-13 on third down and failed on two fourth down attempts as well against a defense led by sophomore linebacker Hunter Warren’s five solo tackles.

With Friday’s win the Bearcats move into the second round to face Osceola, a 64-0 winner over Fouke Friday.

The Bearcats and Seminoles are meeting for the third time in head coach Doc Crowley’s four years, including a 10-7 game in Bearcat Stadium in 2020 that included a fourth-and-goal stop from the Bearcat 1.

It will be the fifth meeting overall between the schools, which includes the 2018 state title won by the Bearcats, 35-0 and a 35-20 win in the quarterfinals in Osceola last year.