The Sky View Bobcats clipped the wings of the Box Elder Bees and hold them to only 92 yards in the air, but the Bees put up 280 yards on the ground and ran wild over Sky View in a 14-33 Bobcat loss. After six consecutive Bobcat victories over the Bees, Box Elder hands Sky View their first region loss this year behind the strong running game of junior quarterback, Britton Gunter, and freshman, Shad Watson.

The night got started when Rod Zundel and the KSL Channel 5 helicopter dropped in for a visit to deliver the game ball, and toss some t-shirts to the Box Elder faithful.

Sky View’s defense that has been a bright spot in many situations this year, one week ago held the Ogden Tigers to just 194 total yards of offense in a Bobcat homecoming victory. This week the homecoming victory belonged to the Bees as they ran over Sky View’s defense putting up 372 yards of offense of which 280 were pounded out on the ground. When asked about the struggles stopping the Bees, Head Coach Craig Anhder and crew had studied film and had told their team that they would have to stop the running game of Box Elder in order to get a victory, and unfortunately for the Bobcats they were unable to get that done.

Offensively the Bobcats running game was also strong putting up 209 yards on the ground, 191 of which came from the feet of senior quarterback Gabe Anderson who had 20 carries. Anderson added 151 yards passing, although he was a bit out of sync with his receivers in the second half, and struggled until the final drive of the game when he got dialed in with a few of his receivers. Anderson also kept the drive alive with his feet, picking up some big yards and able to find the side lines to stop the clock. With just five seconds on the clock Anderson found junior Zach Allen who, after the catch, picked up the 10 yards needed to get into the end zone for the final score of the night.

Anderson threw two interceptions on the night; both came at crucial moments in the game. At the end of the first half with the Bobcats trailing by 6 points Sky View opted to take a shot at the end zone instead of taking a knee and going into halftime with a one score deficit. Anderson threw his first pick on the attempt and the Bees added three more points on a 30 yard Jordan Gerfen field goal heading into halftime with a 9 point lead and momentum on their side.

In the second half the Bobcats found themselves inside their own ten yard line and with a fourth and three, Anhder gambled with a gutsy decision to go for it instead of punting and putting an already exhausted defense back on the field. The gamble paid off when an Anderson keeper picked up just enough yards to for the first down to keep the drive alive. The Bobcats would put together one of their longer drives of the evening, however; that drive came to a grinding halt when Anderson threw his second interception of the game and gave the ball back to the Bees.

Most of the Bobcats’ yards came in the second half when they were forced in to several long drives starting deep in their own territory. The Bees however played on a short field most of the night thanks to Bobcat turnovers, and with the help of some Sky View penalties. One of those turnovers came after a great defensive stand that pinned the Bees deep in their own territory and forced a Box Elder punt. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, junior Sean Gero fumbled the ball on the return and instead of a short field for Sky View the Bees found themselves near mid-field when they recovered the ball.

Speaking of the game, and Sky Views challenges running the ball Anhder said, “I think the big thing that killed us tonight was we killed ourselves, with some penalties at the wrong times, and some turnovers. When you have those kinds of things it’s hard to establish anything. Then we get towards the end of the game and we have to pass so it’s hard to establish it, I think we only had 23 plays in the first half and it’s hard to establish anything when you only have 23 plays.”

The Bobcats will try to tame the Grizzlies next week when Cache Valley rival Logan High School travels the few short miles to Hansen Field in Smithfield for what should be a good game. Kickoff is scheduled for Friday, September 24 at 7 p.m.

Stats

First Quarter

No Score

Second Quarter

Box Elder: Britton Gunter 6 yd. run (Jordan Gerfen – Kick Missed) 6:19
Sky View: Gabe Anderson 43 yd. run (Josh Egbert Kick) 5:37
Box Elder: Britton Gunter 10 yd. run (Jordan Gerfen Kick) 2:38
Box Elder: Jordan Gerfen 30 yd. Field Goal :00

Third Quarter

Box Elder: Britton Gunter 3 yd. run (Jordan Gerfen Kick) 8:38

Fourth Quarter

Box Elder: Jordan Gerfen 40 yd. Field Goal 10:35
Box Elder: Justus Brown 25 yd. pass from Britton Gunter (Jordan Gerfen Kick) 1:36
Sky View: Zach Allen 10 yd. pass from Gabe Anderson (Josh Egbert Kick) :05

Individual Stats

Passing: Anderson 13 for 37, 151 yds., 1 TD, 2 INT.; Oliverson 1 for 1, 16 yds.
Receiving: Jensen 4 for 69 yds.; Corbell 4 for 45 yds.; Allen 3 for 17 yds.; Jorgensen 1 for 13 yds.; Martin 1 for 12 yds.; Lee 1 for 11 yds.
Rushing: Anderson 20 carries for 191 yds., 1 TD; Jorgensen 3 carries for 13 yds. ; Allen 1 carry for 5 yds.
Kick Off: Wells 2 for 31 and 50 Gross, 6 Net
Kick Return: Wells 2 for 36 and 24, Avg. 30 yds.; Gero 1 for 32 yds.
Punt: Nielsen 3 for 58, 37 and 35; Avg. 43.33 yds.
Punt Return: Gero 1 Fair Catch, 1 Fumble; Wells 1 Fair Catch

Team Stats

Sky View (1-4-0 Season / 0-1-0 League): Rushing 209 yds., Passing 167 yds., Total Yds. 376, (Penalties 5-45 yds.)
Box Elder (3-2-0 Season / 1-0-0 League): Rushing 280 yds., Passing 92 yds., Total Yds. 372, (Penalties 7-56 yds.)