Sebastopol and Ethel were supposed to play a football game on Friday night.
It looked more like a track meet as the two teams combined for nearly 1,000 yards of total offense and 98 points but it was the Bobcats who won the race with a 56-42 win over the Tigers.
Ethel falls to 4-4 on the season and will host West Lowndes this week.
Ethel coach Adam Smith said the Tigers were close after falling behind early but tying the game late at 42-42.
“We had 470 yards on the ground and a good night on offense,” Smith said. “Marcus had another big night running the ball. If we can keep Marcus rolling, we will be tough to handle. We played a lot better on defense. I was proud of our players. They took our coaching and used it. We had a couple of call that didn’t go our way and a couple of balls that didn’t bounce our way. The breaks just fell their way. Some crazy things happened that just didn’t go our way. But I was proud of my kids. They played hard for four quarters. At the end, we missed some breaks and they scored twice late and that was the difference in the game."
The Bobcats scored the first two times they had the ball as Michaels hit Luke McGarrity on a 43-yard touchdown pass on the fourth play of the game. David Williams ran in the two-point conversion and Sebastopol led 8-0.
After turning the Tigers over on downs, Michaels hit Jess Johnson on a 35-yard touchdown pass. The try for two was good and the Bobcats led 16-0.
After swapping possessions, the Tigers finally got on the board early in the second quarter as they scored on a 4-yard run. The try for two was good and Sebastopol led 16-8.
The Bobcats answered right back as Williams scored on a 23-yard run to cap off a three-play, 60-yard drive. The try for two failed the Bobcats led 22-8.
But Ethel bounced right back as they went 74 yards in nine plays as Davion Hunt scored on a 1-yard run. Marcus Jones ran the two-point conversion and Ethel cut the score to 22-16.
The Bobcats then put some distance between them the Tigers as Williams scored on a 33-yard run, got an interception on defense and then scored on a 31-yard run to take a 34-16 lead into the half.
Ethel got back into the game in the second half as they scored on their first two possession. The first was a 17-yard run by Jones to cut the score to 34-22. After a Sebastopol punt, Ethel went 57 yards in 14 plays as Jones scored on a 4-yard run and converted the PAT to cut the lead to 34-30.
But Williams and the Bobcats answered right back with a 46-yard run and a two-point conversion to extend the lead to 42-30.
Ethel got back in the game with back to back scored as Jones scored on a 16-yard run to cut the lead to 42-36. After a Sebastopol punt, Jones scored on a 1-yard run to tie the game up at 42-42 midway through the fourth quarter.
The Bobcats then hit the big play as Michaels hit Tyler Perkins on a 70-yard touchdown pass to retake the lead at 48-42.
The Bobcats then recovered an onside kick and finished off the game with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Perkins with 30 seconds left in the game.
The Tigers had 470 yards rushing and 23 passing for 493 yards of total offense. Marcus Jones had 283 yards rushing and four TDs on 31 carries. Anton Clark had 145 yards on 16 carries.
Clark had four solo tackles and one assist with three tackles for loss. Cameron Farmer had two solo tackles, two assists with five tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. Davion Hunt had five assists and four tackles for loss while Brayden Hodges had one solo tackles, six assists and 2.5 tackles for loss.
