The Smyer Bobcats’ last minute drive fell short as they lost 24-18 to the visiting Ralls Jackrabbits Friday night in UIL high school football action.
Smyer took over on their own seven-yard-line after recovering a Ralls fumble with just 57 seconds left in the game
Peyton Casillas opened up, finding Shawn Barrett and Cody Arms open for a first down at the Smyer 23 yard-line. Then he hit Christian Hernandez for a first down on the Smyer 34.
Casillas couldn’t find a man open on the next play, so he tucked the ball and ran to the Smyer 44. That’s when an illegal motion call with just four seconds left on the clock ended the game due to the 10 second runoff rule.
The rule requires 10 seconds to be run off the clock in the case of an offensive foul that causes a dead ball to prevent teams from using a penalty to stop the clock.
“It was a tough loss,” said Smyer Head Football Coach Scott Funke. “We made too many mistakes towards the end of the game that ended up being costly.”
Funke added, “Hopefully, it’s something we can learn from this early in the season to help us become more successful in the future.
Ralls won the toss and elected to defer, giving Smyer the ball. Smyer took over on their own 11 yard-line, but only made it to their 36 yard-line before being forced to punt.
A fumble on the punt was recovered by the Jackrabbits on the Smyer 20 yard-line. Four plays later, Ralls’ Zaiah Riojas crossed the goal line for a 6-0 lead after a faked kick for two points failed
Caleb Clausen returned the Ralls kick to the Smyer 44 yard-line, where Casillas and company went to work. An eight play drive culminated in an 11 yard keeper by Casillas for a 6-6 tie after the Smyer kick was blocked.
Neither team was able to put any extra points on the board.
Ralls took over on the Smyer 42 yard line after an onside kick attempt and a penalty against the Bobcats.
Mathias Zavala got the call and took the ball to the Bobcat 16 yard-line, then combined with Riojas and Justin Zavala to pound the ball down to inches from the goal on five plays
Mathias Zavala got the call for the touchdown and a 12-6 Ralls lead with 1:13 left in the first quarter.
Smyer’s next drive ended in a punt with 8:57 left in the half. Ralls had the same experience.
Smyer was forced to turn the ball over on downs with 4:21 left, then Ralls was again forced to punt, giving the Bobcats the ball on their own 25 yard-line with 2:17 left in the half.
Strong running from Clausen and Casillas brought the Bobcats down to the Ralls 25 yard-line with just 34 seconds left in the half.
That’s when Smyer went to the air. A penalty and three incomplete passes had the Bobcats facing fourth down and 15 on the Ralls 30 yard-line with 19 seconds left in the half, when Casillas hit Armes to tie the game at 12 with just 11 seconds left on the first half clock.
There was just enough time for Smyer to kick and Ralls to get off one unsuccessful play before the half-time buzzer sounded.
The third quarter started with Ralls on their own 36 yardline.
The Jackrabbits engineered an 11 play drive on the ground that ended with Mathias Zavala scoring from the 10 yard-line for an 18-12 lead with 7:47 left in the quarter
Smyer engineered their own drive that took up the rest of the quarter and went 33 seconds into the fourth quarter.
In that time, the Bobcats went 63 yards on 22 plays including four fourth down conversions, mostly on the ground with strong running from Clausen to finish with a touchdown pass from Casillas to Landon Polk for an 18-18 tie.
Ralls, however, wasted no time on their next possession. A three play drive ended with a 38 yard touchdown run by Caden Cargile to put them ahead, 24-18.
The excitement wasn’t over yet, though.
Smyer was forced to turn the ball over on downs on their next drive, giving the Jackrabbits the ball on their own 29 yard line with 8:21 left in the game
Ralls moved the ball methodically down to the Smyer seven-yard-line where a fumble ended their drive and Smyer had one more chance to tie or perhaps win the game
The Bobcats, however, fell short.
Casillas was 14-for-24 for 162 yards and two touchdowns.
Clausen was a yeoman at running back with 31 carries for 127 yards. Casillas had eight carries for 50 yards and a touchdown.
Shawn Barrett had two carries for 10 yards, Preston Moore had three carries for 10 yards and Cameron Gutierrez had two carries for three yards.
Polk had six catches for 67 yards and a touchdown. Armes had three catches for 42 yards and a touchdown
Hernandez had two catches for 24 yards, Barrett had two catches for 15 yards and Gutierrez had a single 14 yard catch.
The Bobcats travel to Floydada Friday for a 7 p.m. game.