Bobcats shine in scrimmage

The Eunice High Bobcats showed flashes of big-play offense along with a solid defense in a three-way football scrimmage against the Kaplan Pirates and the Iota Bulldogs at Bobcat Field on Thursday.
Coach Paul Trosclair’s Bobcats opened the scrimmage with their defense going against the Kaplan offense for 15 plays. The Cats recorded a couple of minus yardage plays against the Pirates, allowing 29 yards on 11 carries. But the Cats were burned three times in the passing game, allowing three of three completions for 74 yards. The Pirates scored a touchdown on the third completion which covered 23 yards. The Pirates managed five first downs against the Cats.
Later, against the Kaplan defense, the Bobcats recorded three first downs against the Pirates, Ty Ceasar rushed for 16 yards on four carries and quarterback John Ardoin added 13 yards on three rushes. The biggest play for the Cats came on a pass from Ardoin to Triston Frye which covered 33 yards. Travis Godfrey had a reception of nine yards. A lost fumble and two major penalties set back the Bobcat offense in their 15 plays.
The Bobcat offense fared better against the Iota defense, rushing for 137 yards on 13 attempts. Ardoin added a completed pass to Paul Zachary that went for a six-yard gain.
Chris Johnson led the Eunice ground attack with two carries for 53 yards, while Frye had two carries for 18 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown run. Zachary added a 30-yard run and Ceasar rushed for 19 yards on four attempts. Ardoin scored a touchdown on a quarterback sneak from the one-yard line. A 9-yard run by Nick Powell set up that score.
The Iota offense struggled a bit against the Bobcat defense in their 15-play opportunity. The Bulldogs were limited to one first down and 42 yards of offense against the Eunice defensive unit. Negative yardage hurt the Bulldogs as Bobcat defenders created four negative yardage plays totaling 11 yards. Iota did complete four of seven passes for 30 yards, but managed only 12 rushing yards on six attempts.
Coach Trosclair saw some positives from the scrimmage, especially with the big plays on offense. “We struggled a bit against Kaplan”, he said. “But they were changing defenses just about every play and we had a tough time adjusting our blocking.”