The Bowie Jackrabbits found a way to win in their opening game on Friday night against Callisburg.
The Jackrabbits won a low-scoring game 16-14 thanks to a late field goal from kicker Nick Salazar in the fourth quarter and three turnovers from their defense.
Bowie is coming into this year following two one-win seasons. Coach Tyler Price, entering his second year, saw improvements in small ways last year, but needed to start seeing those results on the field.
Callisburg was coming off a modest 5-6 season and playoff berth. Price noted the team’s tough interior lineman and mobile quarterback as things to look out for heading into the game.
Thanks to lightning, the game kicked off about an hour later. Besides being humid and the turf being a little wet, weather did not play a factor in the game.
After the first offensive drives for both teams went nowhere, the Wildcats got on a bit of a roll. The offense consisted of runs up the middle from the running back on zone reads where it seemed the read was always to give instead of letting the quarterback keep it. In the passing game, a lot of quick receiver screens on the perimeter seemed to pick up consistent yardage.
Sometimes the quarterback would look to scramble and look downfield.
It paid off early in the game as a long 20 plus yard pass was caught behind the defense down inside Bowie’s 10 yard line. Also thanks to a few penalties earlier in the drive that extended it, Callisburg would eventually score on a short run to go up 7-0.
It looked like things were about to go south for the Jackrabbits as things got worse when they fumbled away the ball during the kick-off return. The Wildcats had the ball and momentum looking to go up double-digits.
The Bowie defense came through as a Callisburg pass down field this time was intercepted by safety Hunter Rodriguez. It staved off the Wildcats in the short term as the Jackrabbit offense tried to work through the early game kinks.
Bowie struggled to run the ball up the middle. Quick wide receiver screens were there, but not always working early in the game. Bad sacks also disrupted drives when looking to make a play.
Early in the second quarter, the Jackrabbit defense got another interception as cornerback Mo Azouak intercepted an errant quick pass. It looked like he was going to return in for a touchdown, but a penalty on the return prevented that.
Bowie took over about midfield and the offense found some plays that worked, specifically getting the ball to slot receiver Tyler Richey and tall outside receiver Braden Rhyne.
Then running back Justin Clark, who did not have a lot of room to operate running into a crowd most of the night, broke loose and stiff armed a defender off of him for a 14-yard touchdown run up the middle to tie the game up at 7-7.
Callisburg responded with a long drive.
The Jackrabbit defense was making the Wildcats earn everything and then got down inside the red zone. Bowie looked like it was going to pull off a goal line stand, with Callisburg facing a fourth and goal from the four yard line.
Unfortunately, the Wildcats punched the ball in and went up 14-7.
The Jackrabbit offense could not respond before halftime, but the defense came up big by stopping Callsiburg on fourth down from its own 17 yard line, preventing the Wildcats from scoring again.
The Bowie defense came out in the third quarter and shut down the Wildcats offense, forcing a three-and-out to start the second half off right for the Jackrabbits.
Bowie’s offense moved the ball a bit, but then struck on its most explosive play of the game. Quarterback Rayder Mann extended the play a little bit scrambling to his right before finding Boston Farris open in the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown pass.
Unfortunately, the extra point was not successful and the Jackrabbits trailed 14-13 midway through the third quarter.
Not much happened until early in the fourth quarter when Bowie was driving again. A play was blown dead and Mann continued to run after the whistle. A Callisburg player ran with him and slammed him down well out of bounds.
The ensuing penalty helped move the Jackrabbits to the Wildcat 12 yard line, but unfortunately the tackle caused some bleeding for Mann who had to miss the next three plays.
He came back in with Bowie facing a fourth down. A fade pass to Rhyne was not completed and the Jackrabbits missed an opportunity to take the lead.
After the defense got a stop, Bowie again drove down to inside Callisburg’s 20-yard line but was stalled again, this time around the 10 yard line. A field goal attempt was considered the previous drive, but with 3:55 left in the game this time the opportunity was taken by Price.
Kicker Nick Salazar lined up and using a straight ahead kicking motion redeemed his missed extra point by making the 27-yard field goal to give the Jackrabbits their first lead of the game 16-14.
Like it had been doing all half, the Bowie defense held with little drama, turning the Wildcats over on downs at the 31 yard line with 51 seconds left. With Callisburg only having two timeouts left, the Jackrabbits needed a first down to clinch the game.
Bowie attempted to run a sweep to the outside, but unfortunately the player was called out of bounds which stopped the clock.
After a not so great punt, the Wildcats had the ball back around midfield with 26 seconds left which gave them a better chance than they thought they would have.
Thankfully the Jackrabbit defense came up with one more stop and did it in style as a hail mary heave to the end zone on the last play was picked off by Bradly Horton to seal the win for Bowie.
The Jackrabbits won 16-14.

To see stats and read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News. To see more pictures, including the band, cheerleaders, fans and drill team, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6868469&T=1