Bobcats fall to Little Rock Parkview

HOPE – Things didn’t go well for the Bobcats right off the bat as the (1-2) Little Rock Parkview Patriots looked like the Patriots who have won the last three state championships. The Pats scored 6 times in the first quarter to begin the blowout early, leading the Bobcats 44-0 with 1:14 left on the clock in the first quarter.

The absence of Hope’s marching band, “The Sound of Hope” who was participating in state competitions, along with Parkview not having many fans travelling with their team, made for a quiet night of football at Hammons Stadium.
Hope’s defense was dominated from the beginning. Parkview scored on every possession in the first half with 4 rushing TD’s, Two passing touchdowns and a tipped pass interception returned for another score. Parkview closed out the 1st quarter with a 31 yd pass TD. The Patriots apparently didn’t have an extra point kicker therefore going for two on each touchdown being successful on 4 of the 6 TD’s making the first quarter score of 44-0 Patriots lead.

The second quarter began like the 1st quarter, ending with a drive by the Patriots scoring on a 23 yd. rushing TD to extend their lead to 50-0 halfway through the 2nd quarter. Bobcats finally got on the board with two consecutive pass completions from Courtney to Jaden Brown for 37 yards and then another completion to Noah Cheathan for the Cats first score of the game. The extra point was good and the Bobcats cut the lead to 50-7 going into Halftime.

The third quarter opened with another exciting score by the Patriots with a 96 yard kickoff return for a touchdown increasing the lead to 58 – 7 with a succesful 2 pt conversion. The Bobcats were held scoreless the rest of the game while the Patriots scored once more in the 3rd quarter with a failed 2 pt. conversion which finished the scoring for the night making the score 64 to 7. The fourth quarter saw no scoring with the clock running due to the Mercy rule to end the game early.

On a positive note, Austin Courtney completed 6 of 16 passes with 1 TD & 1 int. Jaiden Brown had 4 catches for 81 yards. Noah Cheatham had 1 catch of 13 yards and a TD. As Usual, Joel Bello had 13 tackles with one fumble recovery. JJ Gulley had 7 tackles. Caydan Haywood and Sam Johnson each had 7 tackles as well.

Bobcats go on road next Friday night to play the Hot Springs Lakeside Rams. The Rams are 6-1 on the season after defeating Texarkana Friday night.