PALMYRA, Mo. – The Bowling Green Bobcats picked up a win they have been striving for as long as many Bobcat fans can remember when they defeated the Palmyra Panthers 45-0 on the Panthers home field.
The Bobcat’s defense was stellar, and their offense was unstoppable. The game started out going in Bowling Green’s favor as they won the coin toss and elected to receive to start things off. Moving the ball down the field, Bobcat senior Charlie Bowen made a break for the end zone, however a penalty brought the ball back. The Bobcats got back to Palmyra’s 9-yard line when the Panthers defense locked down, stopped the Bobcats progression, and forced the turnover on downs. However, the Bobcats had already ate up most of the first quarter, leaving only 4:30 minutes on the clock.
The ‘Cats didn’t waste time showing their power on defense stopping Palmyra’s run game forcing the Panther’s quarterback to take to the air. That’s when senior Bobcat Owen Niemeyer stepped up and nabbed the pass out of the air, giving the possession back to Bowling Green with two minutes to go in the first quarter. The offense stepped on to the field and Bowling Green’s Marcus Starks ran his first of three first half touchdowns in. The two-point conversion was good, and the Bobcats took the early 8-0 lead.
The second quarter was much like the first, in that Palmyra attempted to run the ball up the middle and the Bobcat’s defense held their ground. With 7:45 to go in the first half, the Bobcats had possession and Gunner Bryant broke free for a massive run, putting the Bobcats in the redzone. However, Bryant was hurt on the play and had to come out for the rest of the half. His efforts allowed Starks to get his second TD of the half on the following play and the Bobcats increased their lead to 16-0.
Palmyra’s offense seemed to have some spark after back-to-back plays by Landyn Smith, but penalties backed the Panthers all the back to near the 50-yard line. The orange and black just couldn’t recover and kicked it away on fourth and long. Bowling Green’s offense didn’t take long to get moving again when Starks ran in his third touchdown of the half, two more points were added and with just over three and a half minutes to go in the first half Bowling Green led 24-0. The half ended and the Bobcats headed to the locker room in new territory, not only beating Palmyra, but shutting them out.
Bowling Green kicked off to the Panthers to start the second half. The Bobcat defense quickly reminded Palmyra of the beatings they were handing out in the first half weren’t a fluke as they stopped the Panthers return on the 10-yard line in Bobcat territory. The orange and black offense looked for ways to move up the field, but Bowling Green’s D was on fire and gave them no room to move. So, the Panthers had to kick it away. The Bobcats took over around the 50-yard line where they began their march back down the field. They made it all the way to the 2-yard line before they were stopped, but on the next play ‘Cats senior Cooper Kiel ran one in and Bowling Green picked up right where they left off, putting more points on the board. With 3:38 to go in the third, Bowling Green was up 32-0.
Palmyra’s offense again was stopped in their tracks and had to kick away to the Bobcats. ‘Cats QB Dylan Dalton decided to keep the ball for himself and had a huge run to wrap up the third taking the ball all the way to the 10-yard line with 1:24 to go in the quarter. Another quarterback keeper saw the Bobcats go up 38-0 after the missed extra points as the third quarter ended.
The fourth quarter saw Bowling Green’s Starks add yet another touchdown with 8:42 to go in the game with a running clock. The Bobcats coaching staff opted to get some younger players in as the clock was winding down, but neither defensively nor offensively did the Bobcats impressive show stop. The Bobcats continued to keep the Panthers from the end zone and the final score of the evening saw Bowling Green get the win over the Panthers 45-0.
“Our kids just really came out and played hard tonight,” said Bobcat’s head coach Joe Chinn. “They executed the game plan really well. I couldn’t be more happy for them. This has been a heck of a ride and a process to get to this Palmyra game. I know we circle it on the calendar all the time, so this one felt pretty good.”
The Bobcats will now travel to Montgomery County to face the Wildcats. Both teams will head into the game 2-0 on the season and each with a conference win. Stay tuned to Eagle 102 sports, kjfmradio.com and @Eagle102Sports on Twitter for more on next week’s game.
