Things did not go the Bowie Jackrabbits way Friday night as they lost their home opener to Godley.
Despite a valiant second half comeback, the Jackrabbits ran out of steam down the stretch as the Wildcats won 27-13.
Things did not start off good for Bowie. After stopping Godley on their first drive, the Jackrabbits established a solid ground attack they would be able to sustain for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, one penalty got them behind the sticks and they could not convert after that in a trend that would follow for most of the game.
After a punt into the end zone the Wildcats, who ran a wildcat type of offense that featured a lot of direct snaps to a lone runner for most of the game, did some misdirection in the backfield that allowed Brenen Hawkins to get behind Bowie’s secondary to score a 67 yard touchdown catch to go up 7-0.
The Jackrabbits responded with another solid drive featuring the running game, driving down in the Wildcats territory. Unfortunately another penalty put Bowie in a difficult third and long situation and needing to complete a pass.
Godley brought pressure and the pass was intercepted by the Wildcats Ian Mapes, who returned it 82 yards for a touchdown. A missed extra point put Godley up 13-0 heading into the second quarter.
There were moments in the second quarter that looked like the Jackrabbits could turn the game around. The defense recovered a fumble deep in Godley’s territory. The offense got the ball within the Wildcats redzone, but another penalty put the ball back on the 22 yard line where Bowie turned the ball over on downs with just over three minutes remaining.
Godley made some big plays offensively to move the ball inside of Bowie’s 10 yard line with plenty of time and time outs left to score before the half. The Jackrabbit defense held up and prevented any other score before the half as they went into the locker room still trailing 13-0.
Bowie was on offense to start the second half. Needing to start the half right after blowing several chances in the first half, quarterback Payton Price kept the ball on a zone read play and found a seam as he broke away from the defense to score on a 59 yard touchdown run. The extra point cut the lead to 13-7.
The Jackrabbits defense continued to play well against Godley’s rushing attack, bending but not breaking for most of the game. Bowie’s offense got the ball again and drove down the field on the strength of running the ball with Ty Harris and Jacob Skinner.
The Jackrabbits threw some short bubble screens to receiver Jed Castles and Joey Crawford to keep the Wildcats defense honest on the outside.
As they drove the field, Price put a ball to the six-foot-six-inch Castles in the end zone. Godley’s corner got too physical and a pass interference penalty was called on the play. This put the ball on the Wildcat’s five yard line.
A few plays later, a direct snap to Harris burst through from four yards out as Bowie scored. Unfortunately, they too missed the extra point and the game was tied 13-13 heading into the fourth quarter.
With momentum gained, the Bowie sideline was confident it was only going to be a matter of time before they took control of the lead.
Godley tried to respond and ran into some of the same problems the Jackrabbits were, gaining a decent amount of yards on most runs, but not enough to overcome a penalty. The Wildcats were in Bowie’s territory, but out of reach for a field goal featuring a third and long.
Godley’s quarterback threw a ball to the inside receiver up the seam and right in front of the safety, but it was a little high. The receiver went up to catch the pass right before the Jackrabbits safety put a good hit on him, trying to jar the ball lose. The receiver held on and the ball was now inside Bowie’s 15-yard line.
After that, it just seemed like a matter of time before the Wildcats would score, which they did as Mapes scored on a 5-yard run to give Godley a 20-13 lead.
Still, Bowie had almost 10 minutes to respond back and regain control of some of the momentum they lost. The Jackrabbits moved the ball to midfield and featured a short fourth and one conversion. Having gotten a good push up front all night, Bowie was sure they would get it to prevent the Wildcats from running any more clock. Unfortunately, the Jackrabbits were stopped short and turned the ball over on downs at midfield with 6:30 left to play.
Bowie did give itself another chance. The defense allowed minimal time to run off the clock and forced a punt. The offense got the ball back with 4:28 left and one time out and had the ball on their own 16 yard line. These were good amounts of time for an offense if they had a bit of urgency to go the length of the field to tie or possibly win the game.
Things never got that far. After a few first downs, the Jackrabbits fumbled the ball on their own 33-yard line with 3:45 left to play.
Things seemed to deflate from there. Godley scored on another short touchdown run to go up by two score 27-13. In a desperate attempt, Bowie tried to get some down the field up tempo throws going, but the Wildcats intercepted another pass with 1:29 left in the game to seal the deal.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.