A week after scoring the second most points in program history, the Bowie Jackrabbits lost their opening district game on the road at Peaster in a defensive struggle.
The Greyhounds hung on to win 10-9, doing all of their damage in the first quarter while the Jackrabbits came up just short of coming back in the final three quarters.
Bowie came into the game with something to prove. While the Jackrabbits and Peaster both came into district play with 3-1 records, the Greyhounds played what was perceived to be the better teams and were a preseason playoff pick within the district.
Bowie was picked to finish last and now that district was starting, it was time for the Jackrabbits to get exposed.
In the first quarter it looked like that was coming to fruition. Peaster hit on a some explosive pass plays down the field that set up a short touchdown run to start the game up 7-0. Later in the first quarter, the Greyhounds then hit on an impressive 35-yard field goal to take 10-0 lead heading into the second quarter.
Bowie’s defense made the adjustments in its secondary on defense and ratcheted up the pressure on the quarterback.
While it did not completely shut down Peaster’s run game, it did make Greyhounds running back Kaden Albert earn every bit of his 101 yards on the ground and not let anyone else hurt the Jackrabbits.
Peaster only gained 46 yards of offense in the final three quarters.
The Bowie offense were finding some success running the ball, but not quite enough success to get out of third and long situations it kept finding itself in when something went wrong.
Twice the Jackrabbits entered the red zone in the second quarter. On one trip, Bowie was able to settle for a short 23-yard field goal from Nick Salazar.
The other trip saw a holding penalty back the team up too far for another field goal chance and the Jackrabbits turned the ball over on downs.
Bowie went into halftime trailing 10-3.
The Jackrabbits defense continued to keep Bowie in the game. In what has emerged as a trend, the Jackrabbit defense pitched its third second half shut out of the season in five games. It would be in four of the games, but the team allowed Dublin to score once in the second half in the previous week’s blow out win.
The Jackrabbits racked up seven sacks, with Noah Metzler leading the team with three while Preacher Chambers and Zac Harris each added two.
The team also forced and recovered two fumbles in the game. Metzler forced one and Tyson Jordan the other one while Hayden Rodriguez recovered both. As a team, Bowie finished with 30 tackles for loss in the game.
On offense, the Jackrabbits continued to struggle in the second half, but got a boost on their biggest play of the game. Running back Justin Clark proved to be a workhorse all game as he finished with team high 151 yards rushing. He also scored the team’s only touchdown when he found a lane on a sweep to the left for a 25-yard touchdown run.
Unfortunately, a special teams gaff would come back to bite Bowie later.
A high snap on the extra point led to a missed kick opportunity and the Jackrabbits trailed 10-9. With it still being the third quarter and the defense playing well, Bowie had time to not dwell on the missed opportunity. Unfortunately, that would be the Jackrabbits last good chance.
Bowie’s offense turned the ball over twice in the game on a fumble and an interception. The Greyhounds played tight and physical coverage which seemed to limit the Jackrabbits wide receiver screen passing game as Bowie was held to 75 yards passing.
Trying to make Peaster pay with passes down the field unfortunately did not produce the big plays Bowie needed to exploit the strategy, which Coach Tyler Price thought was the difference in the game.
“A couple of times we just didn’t make plays in the air,” Price said. “We had a couple of dropped passes. We didn’t win one-on-one matchups outside and those are things we have to get better at. When the ball comes to you, you have to make plays.”
It made the final score that much more crushing as the Jackrabbits fell 10-9.

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