Bobcats moving on from tough loss to Wheatland, focus now turns to Newcastle

Bobcats moving on from tough loss to Wheatland, focus now turns to Newcastle

By ALEX KUHN

Sports Editor

THERMOPOLIS - Things did not break in favor of the Hot Springs County High School football team during their game against the Wheatland Bulldogs on Friday night. Penalties and turnovers by the Bobcats kept putting the team behind the eight-ball, but for all the miscues, they still kept fighting and only came up a few plays short during their 28-14 loss to the Bulldogs at Hot Springs High School.

Sophomore running back Logan Cole led the 'Cats with 112 yards on 12 carries and senior running back Chandler Maddock ran 19 times for 88 yards. Defensively, the top point-getters for the 'Cats were Jeffery VanAntwerp, Chandler Maddock and Logan Cole.

For the game, the 'Cats gained 293 yards of total offense and held the Bulldogs to 263 yards of offense.

The boys lost a hard fought battle against Wheatland Friday night by the score of 28-14.

"We moved the ball efficiently on offense and were hamstrung by penalties all night. We had 15 penalties called against us and must do a better job in this area," said HSCHS football coach Matt McPhie.

"We understand that at the end of the night the only numbers that really matter are the ones lit up on the scoreboard, and we'll clean things up as we move forward."

As most games do, Friday's game came down to a handful of plays, one of those came just before halftime. The 'Cats were driving for the score but the Bulldogs picked off a pass and went 93 yards for the touchdown, going up 15-8 in the process.

Another big play happened in the fourth quarter, after scoring a touchdown the 'Cats elected to go for the two-point conversion. The conversion failed and left them trailing the Bulldogs by one, by the score of 15-14.

The loss drops the 'Cats to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in the 2A East. Friday's defeat is disappointing but for the big picture, Thermopolis still controls their playoff fate. The 'Cats head to Newcastle for Week 6, to take on the Newcastle Dogies at 6 p.m., and a win punches their ticket to the postseason.

The Newcastle contest will be the 'Cats final road test of the regular season, as they close out the year at home against Glenrock on Oct. 12 and Burns on Oct. 19.

"Our goal remains unchanged as we move forward for the final three regular season games. We control our own destiny must win Friday night versus Newcastle to march toward playoff contention.

"We've seen tremendous growth and improved play from our boys in the first five weeks, and although we've come up short on the scoreboard, our focus is unchanged, and we will continue to get better each week," said McPhie.