by CCSD-1 Coaching Staff

It was a big night at Henrich Field on Friday, the Custer County Bobcats had their opening home game against Las Animas and played under the lights for the first time at Mile and a Half Stadium.  The Custer County Booster Club made the experience possible and the players made the most of the evening downing the Trojans from Las Animas 38-14.

The Bobcats received the ball and marched down the field on an opening 50 yard, 6 play drive that was highlighted by a 37 yard strike from Chad Lewenkamp to Michael Stanley.  Cole Budds scored on a 3 yard run to make it 6-0 with just a few minutes into the 1st quarter. The Bobcats defense swarmed the Trojans on the next series and the offense went back to work pounding out its run game with senior Ray Perez scoring on a 3 yard run to make it 12-0.  As the skies darkened and the first night game in over 10 years at Custer County began to be reality, Las Animas showed they had some fight in them. The Trojans marched down the field and scored a touchdown and extra point to make it 12-8.

The 3rd possession for the Bobcats came up empty and Las Animas began to drive again.  Junior Cole Budds stepped in to strip the ball from a Trojan runner and Jake Morris was close by to scoop up the fumble and rumble 20 yards giving the Bobcats the ball at midfield.  Driven behind the running of quarterback Chad Lewenkamp, the Cats moved down to the 2 yard line where an errant handoff turned the ball over to Las Animas. The Bobcat defense would hold off until the half ended 12-8.  “Although the score was close at half, we felt in control of our destiny,” said head coach Troy Bomgardner. “We had done what we wanted offensively and they only had a few plays on offense that kept their drives alive so we felt the game was ours to win in the 2nd half.”

The Bobcats went on defense first in the 2nd half and held Las Animas to 3 down and a punt and this is when the Custer County began to take the game over.  Ray Perez broke through on 4th down and blocked a punt and then on 1st down Budds bolted for a 25 yard touchdown with Lewencamp adding a 2 point conversion taking the game to 20-8.

However, the Trojans would not quit and drove down for another score bring the game to 20-14.  An onside kick recovery by Las Animas kept the fans wondering where this game was going but on the next defensive play, Custer County forced another turnover when junior Patrick Post intercepted a pass with a good runback to the Bobcats 40 yard line.  Again, on the 1st play following the interception, Budds busted through on a 60 yard touchdown run. “Cole is becoming more comfortable running the football,” said Bomgardner. “The rest of the season should be exciting to watch him progress.”

The Bobcats defense began to tighten up and forced a punt to junior Post which he made a good 35 yard return to the 50 yard line.  On the next snap Lewenkamp found Post for a 50 yard touchdown pass to take the score to 32-14. The teams traded a few drives with again the Cats fumbling inside the 10.  The JV squad came in and shut down the Trojans and even had a short scoring drive with freshman Ben Penkoff connecting with freshman Sam Babcock for a TD.

Leading the Bobcats offensively were Budds with 134 yards rushing followed by Perez with 58 yards.  Lewencamp finished with over 100 yards passing to Post and Stanley. Defensively, Budds had a big game with 22 tackles and Perez with 13 tackles.  The Bobcats again led in the turnover game with 5 takeaways and only giving up 2 turnovers.

The Bobcats have an off week this week on the varsity level and will be at home vs Simla on Sept 15th at 1pm at Henrich Field.