The Bowie Jackrabbits picked up their first district win at Peaster on Friday night in a game that went down to the wire.
The Jackrabbits did just enough to hang on at the end to win 44-42 against the Greyhounds.
Bowie was in control in the first half. Wide receiver Ryder Richey took a forward pitch reverse around the right side 71-yards for a touchdown catch, technically, from quarterback Colby Miller. It put Bowie up 7-0.
Peaster answered back with a touchdown drive that ended with a short two-yard touchdown pass on a slant route from quarterback Gunner McElroy. The extra point was no good as the Jackrabbits stayed in the lead 7-6.
Bowie’s offense continued to hum as running back Ty Harris got loose up the middle for a 25-yard touchdown run. The score put the Jackrabbits up 14-6 heading into the second quarter.
Bowie’s offense had another successful drive deep into Peaster’s territory. Facing fourth down the Jackrabbits elected to kick the 28-yard field goal, which Alan Miranda put through the uprights to make the score 17-6.
The Greyhounds answered back as McElroy found Caden Duer open for a 25-yard touchdown catch. The extra point failed again as Peaster cut the lead to 17-12.
Before halftime Bowie conducted another successful offensive drive. It ended in the end zone this time as Miller ran the ball in from two yards out to extend the Jackrabbits lead to 23-12 heading into the break.
Bowie has had a couple of games this season, most notably the previous one against Pilot Point, where the Jackrabbits failed to follow up a good first half with anything close in the second half.
That trend looked like it was continuing as Peaster came back in the third quarter to take the lead.
McElroy finished two drives with short touchdown runs to put the Greyhounds up 27-23 as Bowie was having flashbacks to last week.
As the fourth quarter came, the Jackrabbits offense got out of their third quarter funk and big plays started to happen again.
Miller threw the ball to Miranda on a screen pass to the right side. Miranda found the seem, made a couple of defenders miss and ran to the end zone to complete a 41-yard touchdown catch. The score gave Bowie back the lead 29-27, but Peaster was not done.
McElroy found Zane O’Donnell open behind the defense after a pump fake, completing a pass to him for a 46-yard touchdown catch. It gave the Greyhounds back the lead 34-29.
The Jackrabbits leaned on their senior running back Ty Harris down the stretch as he finished the next two drives with touchdown runs of seven and 12 yards. Bowie’s lead was 44-34, but Peaster’s big play offense was still threat despite time running out.
Surprisingly, it was the Greyhounds running game that came through.
Big running back Tramer Gilbert ran through two defenders up the middle before breaking to the sideline to score a 53-yard touchdown run. The good two-point conversion cut the lead to 44-42, meaning a field goal would win the game if Peaster could get the ball back.
With less than two minutes to play and not enough time outs, the Greyhounds needed to recover the onside kick to have a chance.
Fortunately, Bowie recovered the ball and was able to kneel the ball a few times to secure the win.

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