Cats, Horns to meet for 26th time

[Bobcatfan4life]

Cats, Horns to meet for 26th time

Gabriel Pruett

The Orange Leader

ORANGEFIELD — If the Orangefield Bobcats are taking this season game-by-game, Friday will be the biggest game to date.

Coach Blake Morrison is calling the District 21-3A schedule “The Second Season†and it all starts with a road trip to Hamshire-Fannett to take on the Longhorns.

The Bobcats (1-2) and Longhorns (2-2) have met 25 times in the series history with Hamshire-Fannett leading it 15-10. The first meeting between the two schools was in 1968, a 26-7 Longhorns’ victory. Orangefield picked up a 17-14 victory last season.

“This is like the start of the second season after Hurricanes Ike and Gustav,†Morrison said. “Tarkington last week felt like it was our first game of the season. We were rusty and it was a big win.â€

The Bobcats got a huge came from their special teams unit last week in a 17-7 victory over the Tarkington Longhorns.

Derrick Evans booted a 34-yard field goal and the Bobcats also had a block on special teams.

“I thought our special teams played a big part in the win,†Morrison said. “Those guys helped with field position, coverage on punts, blocked a kick and had a field goal. It was tremendous and we won that phase of the game.â€

The Bobcats seem to be catching H-F at a bad time as the Longhorns are getting a few players back from injury.

Morrison said the Bobcats are preparing like every Longhorn will be back in uniform, including running back Hagan Daigle.

“They are huge and physical,†Morrison added. “Defensively they do a great job of keeping the opposing offense off the field.â€

Bobcat fans can expect Orangefield to stick to the running game as the team has rushed the ball 111 times compared to just 40 passes.

Senior Zach Peevey leads the team with 243 yards on 56 carries with a touchdown. Junior quarterback Jace Statum has 85 yards on the ground while Steven Stone has three rushing touchdowns on 18 carries with 82 yards.

Statum has thrown for 102 yards this year with Evans hauling in five receptions for 49 yards.

Orangefield is averaging 182.3 yards and 13.6 points a game. The Bobcats defense is giving up 310.7 yards and 17.6 points a contest so far in 2008.

“Our main priority is execution,†Morrison said. We have to execute a lot better than we did a week ago.

“This is a big game. We have five district games to go so we have to come out of the blocks. Everyone knows both teams will fight hard. Then you look at our district and it doesn’t get any easier. Silsbee is the best 1-3 team in the state. Bridge City, those guys are playing with a lot of emotions and are winning games. Hardin-Jefferson put up some points against Newton and had a huge comeback against Anahuac. Of course West Orange is still West Orange. There is not an easy week the rest of the way and it all starts this Friday. We are going to go out there and see how it comes out of the wash.â€