The Bowie Jackrabbits opened the season with a tough test playing at Graham on Friday night.
The Steers won the contest 41-22 against this new look and unproven Jackrabbit team that knew they were in for an early season test.
Graham is a 4A program coming off an undefeated district title and won a playoff game last year. Bowie last made the playoffs in 2017 and is trying to learn a whole new system on both sides of the ball under new coach Hugh Farmer. It also has a whole lot of varsity inexperience this year.
It looked like it might be an ugly game for the Jackrabbits early on. Steer quarterback Ty Thompson found Peyton Kinman for a 44-yard touchdown pass on the first drive of the game to put Graham up 6-0.
Bowie’s offense had some stalls, including a turnover on downs near midfield in the first quarter, but the defense did stall Graham for the rest of the quarter.
In the second quarter, the Jackrabbit offense found its groove with quarterback Brody Armstrong completing short passes and running for yards along with getting the ball to running back Matthew McCarty. McCarty would find the end zone for Bowie in the second quarter to tie the score at 6-6.
It would not last long as Graham’s offense answered back within the quarter. Thompson found Kinman again twice more that quarter, both from 18 yards out. Thompson would finish another drive with his legs on a 15-yard touchdown run as well.
Leading 27-6 and sensing it might be getting ugly, the Jackrabbits were able to score once more before halftime to make it a two touchdown game. Armstrong scampered in on an 11-yard run and Bowie completed the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 27-14 at halftime.
After so much offense in the second quarter, the third quarter was a much more defensively focused period for both teams. Graham capped off one drive with Thompson running in a touchdown from four yards out to up the lead to 34-14, but that was the only score until the fourth quarter.
The Jackrabbits again made it a two-score game as Armstrong finished off a drive with a short touchdown run himself to cut the lead to 34-22 after a successful two-point conversion.
Unfortunately, Bowie could get no closer as time ticked down on the end of the game. Graham punctuated its win with one final touchdown in the last five minutes, this one Thompson to Brayden Riggins from 15 yards out.
The touchdown made the final score 41-22.

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