Given the amount of energy and spirit the Bobcat football team (5-0) displayed on Friday during their afternoon game in Dalton, it was hard to believe they had just spent more than three hours on the bus to travel to the game. In fact, the Bobcat win over the Leyton Warriors, 56-6, took less time to play than it did to drive to the game.

It took Conner Paulsen less than a minute of play to find the endzone and take an early lead, 6-0. AJ Starr added two more with a successful PAT to bring the score up to 8-0.

The Warriors did their best to move the chains, but after senior Rio Remund forced a turnover and was “this close” to a pick-six, the Bobcats grabbed the ball and Trey Connell ran it in for another six points with 8:50 left in the first quarter. Cache Gracey ran in the extra two points for a commanding 16-0 lead.

The Bobcats forced a 4th and long for the Warriors to gain possession again about 90 seconds later, but an interception thrown by Dylan Pandorf gave Leyton back the ball. It was very short-lived though as Gracey scored with 6:21 left in the quarter to extend the Bobcat lead to 22-0.

It wasn’t long before Connell had the ball again and ran 39 yards for a touchdown to add six more for a score of 28-0 at the midpoint of the first quarter. Coach cleared the bench and gave the underclassmen some playing time at this point, and with a tad more than a minute left in the first quarter, Starr scored 6 more and Paxton Bierman added tow more with a PAT. The first quarter ended with the Bobcats up 36-0.

The onslaught didn’t end with the younger players at the helm. Following a tackle by what the announcers declared a “litter of Bobcats”, a Leyton player could be heard talking about the Bobcat defense - “It’s fine! He’s a good football player - there’s not much you can do.” And really, there wasn’t much the Warrior defense did or could do. The Bobcats just kept running the ball into the endzone.

The second quarter saw two more touchdowns by Pandorf, an interception picked off by Crew Witthuhn, and a defense that didn’t relent. The Bobcats went to halftime with a commanding lead, 48-0.

Halfway through the third quarter, the Warriors finally found a hole in the Bobcat defense to score their lone touchdown of the game. But before the third quarter ended, Pandorf and Bierman worked together to add 8 more points. The third ended as it started - a continuous play clock ticking off the time very quickly, and the Bobcats absolutely destroyed the Warriors' dreams for a homecoming win.

The fourth quarter saw a lot of movement of the ball with the starters cheering on their younger teammates from the sidelines, but no more points added to the board. As rain clouds began to roll in, the Bobcats took their win, 56-6. As the two teams joined to pray together and chat following the game, it was obvious that the Bobcats are one of the most respected teams in high school football.

As the underclassmen were given the majority of the playing time in this game, the starting players didn’t put up the big stats like usual. Connell had 75 yards rushing, while Paulsen had 73 yards rushing. On defense, Rio Remund had three tackles and one sack, while sophomore Dawson Mason had 5 tackles.

The Bobcats remain the top-ranked football team in Class D2, the top in all Nebraska 8-man teams, and 9th in the nation for 8-man teams. The rankings are updated each Tuesday.

The team will venture west on Thursday night for a late-night game against the Hyannis Longhorns with a kickoff time of 8 p.m. central time.

Game stats

Paxton Bierman - 20 yards rushing; 2 PATs; 4 points; 2 tackles; 19 yard kickoff return Kyle Bloomer - 1 tackle Trey Connell - 75 yards rushing; 2 touchdowns; 12 points Elijah Cool - 41 yards rushing Ethan Furne - 4 tackles; 12 yard punt return Cache Gracey - 16 yards receiving; 1 touchdown; 1 PAT; 8 points; 4 tackles Colton Hicks - 2 tackles Harper Johnson - 2 tackles Dawson Mason - 38 yards receiving; 5 tackles Malachi Neth - 1 tackle Dylan Pandorf - 54 yards passing; 63 yards rushing; 3 touchdowns; 18 points; 8 tackles; 1 punt; 28 punting yards Conner Paulsen - 73 yards rushing; 1 touchdown; 6 points; 6 tackles; 2 interceptions Rio Remund - 3 tackles; 1 sack Joey Sallach - 5 tackles; 1 punt; 20 punting yards AJ Starr - 26 yards rushing; 1 touchdown; 1 PAT; 8 points; 1 tackle Jamie Tickle - 9 kickoffs; 404 kicking yards Crew Witthuhn - 4 tackles; 1 interception Carter Wood - 27 yards rushing; 1 tackle Lance Wooters - 1 tackle; 1 fumble