By Van Wade
The Orange Leader

ORANGEFIELD — Getting back on the field for the first time since the onslaught of Tropical Storm Harvey, the Orangefield Bobcats showed plenty of rust and the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Battlin’ Bears took full advantage of it Friday night.

The Bears rolled up 306 yards in the first half to build a 28-0 edge and never looked back as they downed the Bobcats 35-7.

The Bears were in Orangefield’s shoes last week when they wore down against Woodville in the second half in their first game back, falling 28-14 but the Bears bounced back well after a full week of practice.

The Bobcats, who got water all in their fieldhouse and weight room from the storm, played hard throughout.

“We know what Coach (Josh) Smalley and the Bobcats are going through,” said LCM coach Randy Crouch. “Their kids and our kids have been through a lot of stuff of late and both teams played hard tonight. The Bobcats are going to get better and they’ll do it next
week. It really took a week for us to get back in the groove too.”

“We could’ve played better I thought but we made some early turnovers and LCM took advantage of them with some big plays early,” said Smalley. “I know it’s just our first game and all but we showed tonight that we have a lot of areas to improve on but it’s going to get better. It was nice to finally hit the field again and I know the kids are happy about that.”

Spirits were high at F.L. McLain Stadium though as there were capacity crowds on both sides.

LCM outgained the Bobcats 306-19 in the first 24 minutes and finished with a 383-89 advantage.

“We made some big plays on offense even though we were in too many long yardage situations and we’ve got to improve there,” said Crouch. “I thought our defense was outstanding. That Slot-T offense can be tough to stop. We showed tremendous improvement from the previous week.”

LCM quarterback Etan McCollum had 188 total yards as he rushed for 101 yards on 15 carries and a pair of scores and passed for 87 yards. Bear back Chris Winters scored on a touchdown run and a long punt return for a score and receiver Katon Brown had four catches for 90 yards.

The Bears hit the scoreboard early.

Winters brought the opening kickoff back 56 yards to the Bobcat 34. On the very next play, McCollom executed a great fake handoff to Winters and kept it around the right side untouched for a 34-yard touchdown run. Kooper Abernathy booted the extra-point as the Bears led 7-0 with 11:37 left in the first quarter.

The Bears jumped up 14-0 with 0:20 left in the first quarter after completing a eight-play, 55-yard drive.

The big play of the drive came when McCollom connected with receiver Katon Brown over the middle for a 26-yard pass to the Bobcat 9 on a third-and-16 play from the 35. McCollom found the end zone again three plays later, darting over the right side for a six-yard score.

The Bears navigated 68 yards in eight plays to hit paydirt with their first series of the second quarter. The Bears fooled the Bobcats with a superb reverse as receiver Dameon Morris took it 47 yards down the right side all the way to the Bobcat 21. McColom had a 12-yard dart to the 9 and fellow quarterback Brayden Babineaux found the end zone with a fourth down sneak from a yard out to make it 21-0 with 6:28 in the half.

LCM closed out the half with a 10-play, 93-yard drive. Brown had the big play of the series when he hauled in a Babineaux pass and bolted 57 yards all the way down to the Bobcat 24. Babineaux had a nice nine-yard keeper to the Bobcat 10 and WInters would score, bolting into the end zone from two yards out off left tackle.

McCollom accounted for 149 first-half yards, rushing for 89 and passing for 60. He and Babineaux combined to go 5-for-7 for 132 yards.

Brown hauled in two catches for 83 yards while Morris accounted for 80 total yards.

The Bobcats rushed for 19 yards on 15 carries as LCM ran 33 total plays in the half while the Bobcats had 17.

Both teams struggled to move the ball early in the third quarter.

Bobcat defensive back Quy Tsan picked off a McCollom pass at the Bear 44 and returned it to the 18 with 4:27 in the third.

The Bobcats quickly took advantage of the turner scoring in four plays. Chase Broussard had a big seven-yard gain and quarterback Mason Gonzales had a six-yard keeper and would score on a five-yard keeper. Jacob Rainey booted the extra-point, trimming it to 28-7 with 2:29 in the third.

The Bears retaliated on the last play of the third when Winters bolted through the Bobcat special teams for a swift 75-yard punt return for a touchdown.

The Bobcats played much better on defense in the second half, limiting the Bears to 77 yards.

“We showed some positive signs in the second half except for that long punt return by Winters,” said Smalley. “Our kids showed some fight and they looking forward to bouncing back against Kelly next week.”

Dylan Williams was the leading rusher for the Bobcats, finishing with 21 yards on six carries.

LCM will host Crosby next week while Orangefield heads to Kelly.