Sluggish Bobcats rally past Patriots, 25-18

Published 11:39 pm Saturday, September 24, 2011

By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

FAYETTEVILLE — It’s called winning ugly.

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The Green Bobcats played sluggish but managed to rally for a 25-18 win over the Fayetteville-Perry Patriots on Friday.

Green (3-2) fell behind 12-7 at the half before scoring three straight touchdowns in the second half to take the lead for good.

“We played well enough to win, but we have got to learn to play all four quarters,” said Green coach Dan McDavid.

“We came out extremely flat. We played decent defensively in the second half.”

After the Patriots went up 12-0, Steve Blanton hit Cody Bruce with a 47-yard touchdown pass. Mike Avery kicked the conversion and it was 12-7.

Avery then had touchdown runs of 1, 2 and 3 yards in the second half as Green took a 25-12 lead.

Fayetteville got a touchdown pass with five minutes left, but Green recovered the onside kickoff and held on for the win.

The Bobcats had 242 yards offense with 155 coming through the air. Blanton — returning from an injury — was 6 of 11 for 134 yards and a touchdown.

Rob Applegate ran 10 times for 39 yards and Avery had 38 yards on 14 tries to pace the ground game.

Green 0 7 12 6 = 25

Fayetteville 6 6 0 6 = 18

First Quarter

Fa – 4-yard run (kick failed)

Second Quarter

Fa– 24-yard run (kick failed)

Gr – Jared Bruce 47 pass from Steve Blanton (Mike Avery kick)

Third Quarter

Gr – Mike Avery 1 run (kick failed)

Gr – Mike Avery 2 run (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter

Gr – Mike Avery 3 run (kick failed)

Fa – 13-yard pass (pass failed)

––

Gr FP

First downs 10 17

Rushes-yards 34-87 67-194

Passing yards 155 68

Total yards 242 262

Cmp-Att-Int 8-17-0 7-15-2

Fumbles-lost 4-1 4-2

Penalties-yards 7-75 4-50

Punts-average 4-34.0 4-25.0

Individual Leaders

RUSHING–Green: Rob Applegate 10-39, Mike Avery 14-38, Cody Bruce 2-minus 1, Clay Applegate 1-3, Steve Blanton 3-minus 13; Fayetteville: NA.

PASSING–Green: Steve Blanton 6-11-0 134, Cody Bruce 2-6-0 21; Fayetteville: NA.

RECEIVING–Green: Cody Bruce 3-86, Clay Applegate 3-33, Rob Applegate 1-20, Steve Ratcliff 1-17; Fayetteville: NA.w