Those new helmets do look good.
ALL PHOTOS BY JOHN KEUVELAAR

---

Junior John Glenn Bobcats Down Carrollton 30-6

Next Week: Undefeated Frankenmuth

October 23, 2008
By: John Keuvelaar

Before this week's Junior League football game with Carrollton, Bangor John Glenn's Coach Dobbins was concerned about a "letdown."

"That was a big concern for me," Coach Dobbins said. "Let down . . . We were really worried about it. We were very concerned."

The second adversity the team had to endure was the issue of missing players. Some players were missing due to injuries, a fact of sports that every player and team knows they will have to deal with sometime during the full season.

"We had a rough week. For a number of reasons, we had a lot of new kids in a lot of new positions today," stated Coach Dobbins.

Kyle Fournier, Jordan Jacobs and Connor VanDenBosch zero in on the Cavalier runner.


Nice diving effort.


Quentin Thomas shows off the nice new helmets.


Tony Merchant prepares to stiff arm his way to the end zone.


Alex Delgado gains good yardage on this reception.


This dude was tough to bring down all night.


Ryan Leitermann at the end of a great punt return setting up a Bobcat score.


Matt Hurley is hot pursuit..

But the Bangor Junior Bobcats were up to the task.

"The true character of any football team is how you deal with adversity," acknowledged Coach Dobbins proudly.

Dobbins went on to say that the character of his team came forward as they banded together to get the job done and stopped a team with a talented game changing player in Carrollton's running back.

The game started with all the earmarks of a disaster in the making.

On Carrollton's first play from scrimmage, their star back broke a run around end for a 58 touchdown run and put the Cavaliers on top 6-0. Then on Bangor's first possession, the Bobcats fumbled the ball and Carrollton took over on the Glenn 44.

The Cavalier's made big holes for their backs and soon they were knocking on the Bobcat door at the 17 yard line. This is where the character of the Bobcat football team took over. The Cavalier quarterback tried to fool Bangor with a fake run to the right and a bootleg to the left. But Ryan Leitermann was there to sack the quarterback for a 7 yard loss.

Two Carrollton penalties pushed them back further, one resulted in a touchdown being called back, and the Cav's were back on the Bobcat 34. Then the Cavaliers busted a 23 yard run before being knocked out on the 11 yard line. The next play resulted in a fumble and Bangor recovered.

Bangor's offense gave the defense some much needed relief. Starting on the 10, they began to move the ball down field. A twelve yard run by Tony Merchant along with a face mask penalty gave Bangor some breathing room on their 37. Moments later, a 20 yard Merchant run plus an 18 yard strike from Derek Clyde to Alex Delgado and the Bobcats were looking to even the score on the Cav's 17. But the Carrollton quarterback/defensive back, #8 intercepted the ball on the 5 ending the long drive.


Michael Erndt puts the hit on after the reception.


Kyle Seymour returns his interception to the Bobcat 39.


Derek Clyde tucks it in and runs down the sidelines near the end of the half.


Matt Nielson with the reception on the 5 and he takes it in for the score as time runs out.


The defense is ready for them to bring it on.


Kyle VanDenBosch flys after the Cav's runner.


Alex Delgado sets up a third quarter score.


Tony Merchant twist and turns for the last three yards and a touchdown.

During that drive, defensive adjustments were made and they were ready to go. "We started out slow, made some adjustments that came out pretty good," explained Coach Dobbins. The defense held the Cav's to three yards forcing a punt. Ryan Leitermann caught the line drive punt at the Cav's 35 and returned it, with some nifty spinning moves, to the 14. From there, Quentin Thomas power ran it up the middle 13 yards to the 1 and Tony Merchant punched it in for the tying score. Another off tackle run by Merchant put Bangor up 8-6, a lead they would never relinquish.

Following a very determined return to the Carrollton 45, penalties would again haunt the Cav's. After a couple tackle breaking runs, their star back broke loose for 47 yards and an apparent touchdown. But penalties behind the play brought the ball back with time running out in the first half. A twelve yard pass put the ball on the Bobcat 21 with 57 seconds left.

Going for it all, Kyle Seymour of Bangor intercepted the ball on the Bobcat 10 and returned it to the Bobcat 39. A couple runs and a 24 yard pass from Derek Clyde to Matt Nielson put Bangor in striking distance with 8 seconds left in the half. With only time for one more play, Clyde rolled left and behind excellent pass protection, found Nielson on a corner route at the 5. Nielson then ran it in the end zone just inside the pylons for another Bangor touchdown as time expired. Merchant punched it in for two and at the half, Bangor was ahead 16-6.

The second half started a little sloppy for both teams. On Bangor's first play from scrimmage, they fumbled and Carrollton recovered on Bangor's 39. Following a 14 yard run to Bangor's 20, a fumbled exchange gave the Bobcats the ball back on their 22. Using all four running backs helped Bangor march down the field as Merchant peeled off 13 yards, then Justin Mlujeak added 21 with Delgado and Thomas adding 7 yards each. Merchant then finished it off with a beautiful run as he took it off right tackle and seemingly was stopped on the 3. But Mr. Merchant smelled pay dirt and literally bulldozed his way into the end zone for another Bangor touchdown. A missed extra point left the score at 22-6.

That touchdown took the wind out of the Cavalier's sails. Following a nice kickoff return, the Cav's couldn't move the ball and were forced to punt. A good return put the ball at midfield and Bangor went to their punishing running game. Clyde hit Delgado for an 18 yard touchdown and with another pass to Gatlin Hoffman for 2 points, the Bobcats had another victory 30-6.

Next week the Bobcats play at undefeated Frankenmuth.

Matt Hurley and Jon Welchner along with an unidentified teammate find it tough to bring him down.


It was a team effort all night.


This is power football as Derek Clyde hands it off to Quentin Thomas with Tony Merchant and Alex D