Goal line stand leads Rams past Bobcats for title
Published 9:19 pm Monday, November 14, 2016
Rams coach Jeffery Tubbs holds up his team’s city championship trophy and regular season runner-up trophy after Saturday’s dramactic win over the Bobcats. The Rams held the Bobcats on five plays inside the 16-yard line in the final minute to preserve a 12-6 win. –Daniel Evans
The Bobcats and Rams are so evenly matched that Saturday’s championship game came down to just a few yards.
Playing in their third meeting this year — this time with the 11 and 12-year-old city championship on the line — the Rams held the Bobcats on five consecutive plays near the goal line.
“Our defense has been tremendous all year,” said Rams coach Jeffery Tubbs. “I never doubted once that we couldn’t stop that team. In some situations, they got some yardage on them but when it counted, we stopped them on every big play we needed in the game.”
After a methodical drive, the Bobcats scored on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Rashaud Morgan to Samuel Brown to take a 6-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Rams answered on the next very offensive play. JaVeon Kynard ran up the middle for a 53-yard touchdown to tie the game.
The teams remained tied until the beginning of the fourth quarter. Kynard caught a 75-yard touchdown on a play where he broke a tackle to put the Rams ahead 12-6 with 6:25 to play.
“I just saw a wide open field,” Kynard said. “I was gone.”
The Bobcats responded with one of their best drives of the game. The Bobcats moved the ball to the 2-yard line and faced a fourth and one with 17.8 seconds left.
On the next play, the Bobcats advanced to the 1-yard line, but players — thinking they were facing fourth and goal — reacted by tossing their helmets and were called for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The penalty moved the ball back to the 16-yard line, where the Bobcats had a first and goal. Samuel Brown ran around left end, but was stopped about the 12-yard line and time expired.
“My players were so excited. They’d been wanting to win this tournament and they got there and came up short,” said Bobcats coach Lee Minor. “They thought the game was over but they got the first down. They went to throwing their helmets off and that’s how they got the personal foul. You get the breaks like that sometimes, so I just take my hat off to [the Rams]. They were the better team today.”
The Bobcats won the regular season championship and beat the Rams once during the regular season. The teams had tied in a second meeting.
