GAINESVILLE | Going into Friday night’s contest between Gainesville city rivals Buchholz and Class 6A No.1 Gainesville High (7-0), there were not many, if any who gave the Bobcats (2-5) a chance of beating their cross-town rival. After all through six games the Bobcats haven’t fared well only winning two of its contest mostly while looking inept and turnover prone through it all. Not to mention that in four losses this year the Bobcats have been outscored by a combined 148-43.
Friday night was no different and outside of a 39 yard scamper by fill-in QB Ahmad Ivey, which cut the Canes first quarter lead to 14-7, the two teams pretty much held true-to-form.
The Bobcats who have had turnover problems all season totaled seven fumbles losing five; pretty much handing the game to Canes.
“The tale of the game is really those first-half miscues,” said Bobcats first-year coach Mark Whittemore. “We lost our third-string quarterback (Nichols) tonight with the shoulder, but I was really proud of Ahmad Ivey playing quarterback for us the whole second half. He did a great job, hung in there and battled.”
Cashing in on the Bobcats generosity was the Canes (7-0) Mark Cato and he did so by taking to the air. Cato finished the night 12-of-22 for 222 yards and four scores. Also getting in on the act with two TD’s each were Case Harrison and Kenric Young. Harrison finished the night with five receptions for 122 yards and also scored on a 1 yard run. Young also caught five passes for 93 yards in addition to his two touchdowns.
If there is however, a silver lining to be had for Buchholz, they can look to the early play of their defensive front which tallied three sacks early in the game. The defensive unit also limited the Hurricane running game to under 100 yards rushing.
Next up for Gainesville is the 6A-District 5 matchup with Ocala Vanguard (3-3, 1-0) which could ultimately decide the district championship and first round home-field advantage. Buchholz will travel to Tallahassee for a 7A-District 1 match-up with Chiles (3-4, 1-1).
