Published: October 02, 2008 12:11 pm      

Bobcats ready to face Tarkington

ORANGEFIELD — It’s been back to business for the Orangefield Bobcats the last week.

The Bobcats (0-2) remain hungry in trying to garner their first win of the season after Hurricane Ike has made them wait for three weeks. Orangefield will get their last tuneup tonight when they hit the road to face the Tarkington Longhorns (2-1) with District 21-3A action just a week away.

“The kids are ready to play some football,” said Bobcat head coach Blake Morrison. “Looking back on things, our kids went to school a total of seven days in September. They’re so ready for things to get back to normal.”

The Bobcats stayed quite busy during the aftermath of Ike. Many football players went to the aid of a devastated neighboring Bridge City, helping out friends and family clean up. Still, that’s not completely staying in football shape.

“Conditioning was definitely a concern during those early practices,” Morrison said. “You could tell some of them were going through some pain but they were happy at the same time because they were playing some football. We really ran them through the mill.”

The Bobcats fell to East Chambers in their season opener and then lost a nail-biting overtime game to Buna while Tarkington has captured two of its first three tilts.

Morrison feels the Longhorns are definitely a formidible opponent.

“We were able to trade some film and after watching them, they (Tarkington) have a very sound football team,” said Morrison. “They love to run the football. They run the same style offense as both Buna and Vidor, who both gave us a good look early on.”

The Bobcats have allowed 596 yards rushing after two games.

“The key for us is making those early tackles at the line and not letting them bounce in the secondary,” Morrison said. “We would love to create some turnovers. On offense, the effort has been there from the get-go, we just need to execute better and don’t give up the easy turnovers.”

Running back Zach Peevey leads the Bobcat offense, rushing the ball 38 times for 192 yards. Quarterback Jace Statum has passed for 96 yards and receiver Derrick Evans has caught four passes for 43 yards.

‘The kids are thrilled about having a chance to line up against somebody else again,” Morrison said. “We’re going to play as many kids because of the possible fatigue factor. It’s great that would could get this game going. We needed that last non-district game to have a chance to look at things and see areas that we can improve in before district. It’s a big plus.

The Bobcats open District 21-3A play on the road at Hamshire-Fannett Oct. 10.