The winning streak is over for the Bobcat football team, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their eyes set on a playoff spot!

The Bobcats fell to the West Mifflin Titans September 24 in a tough game that ended in a final score of 28-16.

Beaver Area currently has a record of 5-1 and is ranked 18 in the Pennsylvania Division AAA.

Despite the loss, Beaver Area played a good game with only a few holes in their playing strategy that led to the end of their winning streak.

After a slow first quarter for both teams, the Titans had a missed field goal attempt that led to an opportunity for the Bobcats to score a rushing touchdown.

Less than a minute later the Titan completed a passing touchdown to tie the score, 7-7, at halftime.

Even though the Bobcats have been known to come back out after halftime and pull away from their opponents (Western Beaver and Beaver Falls) they could not do that this Friday night.

West Mifflin scored two more times in the third quarter while the Bobcats scored once with a failed two-point conversion and a completed field goal. This made the score 16-21 at the end of the third quarter.

West Mifflin scored again only once in the first minutes of the fourth quarter, making the final score be 28-16.

Junior and team captain Gabe Lutton explained that “This game was tough. Our tackling struggled, we had three interceptions, and two fumbles. We also made no changes at halftime which hurt us.”

Junior and left tackle Zachary Barnes was named offensive player of the game for his performance against the Titans.

The Bobcats had to move past their first loss and focus on their weaknesses to prepare for the September 29 home game against Brentwood.

The Brentwood game also was the annual Pink Out fundraiser put on by the TLC club. The club sold both t-shirts and crewnecks and accepted donations throughout the game for the American Breast Cancer Foundation.

The Spartans kicked off to the Bobcats and on the following play Beaver Area had a 65 yard rushing touchdown by junior Quay Cain.

This touchdown put the Bobcats in a winning position with a score of 7-0 in the first ten seconds of the game.

Two minutes later junior Brady Mayo, who played quarterback for the first half of the game, scored another rushing touchdown.

To round out the first quarter, junior Drey Hall and Mayo scored the third and fourth touchdowns for the Bobcats ending the first quarter with a score of 28-0.

The second quarter wasn’t much different for the Bobcats.

Mayo, senior Caleb Berardelli, and junior Amari Jackson all scored in the second quarter, as well as one Brentwood touchdown, making the half time score 49-6.

Despite not scoring the touchdowns, the offensive and defensive lines showed much improvement from the West Mifflin game, which also helped to the huge victory.

The defensive line consisted of seniors Aaron Miller and Nick Williams, and sophomores Colton Robinson and Alex Korcinsky.

While the offensive line consisted of freshman Damian Lutton, sophomores Tony Rabatin and JT Pashuta, and juniors Barnes and Aiden Connelly.

The extreme score gap between the Bobcats and Spartans allowed the junior varsity team to play under the Friday night lights for the third and fourth quarter.

Sophomore Rudy Young had an interception with ten minutes left in the third that allowed the Bobcats’ ball to keep rolling.

To end the game sophomore Junior Marino scored a 92 yard kick return touchdown, while the Spartans scored twice in the fourth quarter.

This left the Spartans going home with a 36 point loss and a 56-20 Bobcat victory.

The Beaver Area football team will face undefeated section leaders Avonworth next week at home for the annual Bobcat Homecoming game.

Check the next issue of the BASD ECHO for coverage of the Bobcat Homecoming game!