The Bowie Jackrabbits almost pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in program history on Friday night in Bridgeport.
Alas, the Jackrabbits came up one point short in a 63-62 shoot out they had a chance to win at the end despite being down 30 points at one time.
Bowie Coach Hugh Farmer suspected it might by a high scoring game. While both teams lost their opening games the Jackrabbits scored 22 points against a good Graham team while feeling like they were just scratching the service of their offensive potential and the Bulls scored 34 points in their loss to Burkburnett.
It was Bridgeport that came out guns blazing and looked like it would win running away with it. Two long touchdown passes from quarterback Mason McComis put the Bulls up 14-0 in the first quarter.
Bowie answered with running back Matthew McCarty finishing off a drive with a nine-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 14-6.
Unfortunately, Bridgeport continued to score on explosive plays before the quarter was up. Bulls running back Cole Pritchard scored on a 12-yard run before McComis hooked up with his third different receiver for a touchdown of 50 or more yards in the game.
Bridgeport led 28-6 heading into the second quarter with no sign of slowing down.
Bowie’s offense answered again as quarterback Brody Armstrong found A.J. Whatley for a 19-yard touchdown pass. The Bulls scored twice more on a 43-yard pass from McComis and a 40-yard run from Pritchard to build their biggest lead 42-12.
Not wanting to lay down the Jackrabbits showed some life before halftime, scoring twice with drives punctuated by short passes from Armstrong to McCarty to cut the lead to 42-26.
Still, Bridgeport went into halftime reasserting control of the game as McComis threw his fifth touchdown of the half, this one from 39 yard out to make it 49-26.
Bowie made some key defensive adjustments as it seemed nothing could slow down the Bulls in the first half. If they could get stops, the Jackrabbits were confident they could score enough as the only thing stopping them from keeping pace in the first half had been self-inflicted mistakes and turnovers.
Bowie had its most explosive play of the game starting the third quarter on the right note. Armstrong found Tucker Jones for an 86-yard touchdown pass. Unfortunately, Bridgeport hit right back with another big offensive play as Pritchard got lose on a 68-yard touchdown run. Thankfully, it would be the Bulls only score of the quarter.
This allowed Bowie to score twice more as Armstrong capped off drives with touchdown runs, the final before the fourth quarter cutting the lead down to only 10 points, 56-46.
Bridgeport staved off some of the momentum the Jackrabbits were building, capping off only its second scoring drive of the half with McComis’ sixth touchdown pass of the game from 12 yards out.
It put the Bulls at least three scores up 63-46.
Still, Bowie kept coming as the offense kept pulling big plays out of its hat every time it needed to. McCarty scored on an 11-yard run to cut the lead to 63-54. The Jackrabbits next drive saw Armstrong score on a 16-yard run, with the two-point conversion cutting the lead down all the way to one point, 63-62.
Unfortunately, Armstrong was flagged for his second personal foul call of the game for taunting on the scoring play, disqualifying him from the rest of the game.
Bowie got one more stop on defense and had the ball back with a chance to drive for the winning points in the final minute. Unfortunately, an interception was thrown and time ran out on the Jackrabbits comeback attempt.

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