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Gallatin’s frustrating football season continued last Friday night with a 13-6 loss to Braymer in the first round of Class 1, District 14 play.
The Bobcats broke a 6-6 tie with 1:03 remaining in the game when quarterback Cody Goodrich hit Nate Owen with a 36-yard scoring pass, catching the Bulldogs with only one man in coverage against a pair of receivers. Blake Peters kicked the extra point.
Braymer successfully executed an on-side kick and chose to run out the clock.
The Bulldogs couldn’t escape what has been a season-long penchant for penalties and mistakes. A first-quarter run by Chad Ness to the Bobcat 20 came back because of a holding penalty. A false start helped push the Dogs into a fourth and 26 situation on the same drive.
Following a late first quarter fumble exchange between the two teams, Gallatin opened the second period with another open field run by Chad Ness behind the blocking of Brandon Hunt and Anthony Jeffers. Alternating carries by Chad and Brandon Ness and Isaac Mattis, the Dogs moved inside the five-yard line to the three.
A false start whistle pushed the ball back to the eight. Chad Ness was stacked up for a three-yard loss in the backfield. A Zack Lollar pass to Devin Hall in the middle of the end zone was picked off by Jesse Utt and he returned the ball out to the Bobcat 31.
Hall killed a Braymer drive by recovering a fumble on Gallatin’s 19, but the Bulldogs couldn’t capitalize. Gallatin got the ball back before the end of the half but time expired after a Brandon Ness to Derrick Lin pass inside the Bobcat 30.
Braymer’s second possession of the third quarter paid off as the Bobcats moved down the field on the strength of a newly-found running game. Reid Brooke and Trevor Corbin traded off carries to the Bulldog one-yard line, where Dalton Owen took over for the scoring plunge.
Lin, Mattis and Hayden Bott combined to stuff Braymer’s two-point conversion run.
Despite trailing, the Bulldogs offense found a spark. On second and 18, Brandon Ness hit Chad Ness out of the backfield. Chad hauled in the pass, raced around left end and took off up the sideline after a crack back block by Lin gave him clean sailing 70 yards to the end zone.
A high snap on the PAT attempt contributed to a blocked kick that kept the game tied at 6-6.
When the ensuing kickoff eluded the Braymer return man, the Bobcats looked at a long road starting on their own six-yard line.
Facing a fourth and five on their own 35, the Bobcats tried to repeat an earlier successful gamble at a first down in their own territory. This time, Corbin got nowhere as Dexter Daniel, Cody Engel and Dylan Leeper teamed up to make the stop for the Bulldogs.
With just under five minutes to work with, Gallatin began at the BHS 38 behind Ness at quarterback. He converted a fourth and two at the Bobcat 29 but a sack again put Gallatin in a desperate situation. A sideline pass failed to connect with a receiver at the 10-yard line and a fourth down pass across the middle sailed out of the reach of another receiver.
Gallatin hosts Polo in district action Friday night. The Panthers fell to South Harrison, 7-0, last week after nearly knocking off Princeton two weeks ago. A win would keep the Bulldogs alive for a playoff spot.
The Panthers own a victory over Albany and Maysville and King City, two teams Gallatin fought to the final buzzer.