No place like homecoming
Nick Ianniello/Mineral Independent Superior Bobcat Travis Stroot pushes through the Pirates defense during the third quarter of their game Friday night.
Friday night was a bad time to be in the crosshairs of the undefeated Superior Bobcats football team, with the entire team excited and ready to please the crowd on homecoming night in Superior.
They faced off against the Victor Pirates, bringing in a victory that would make any home-town crowd cheer their guts out.
“It couldn't have been better,” said Bobcats Head Coach Dan Lucier.
The Bobcats brought in the first touchdown of the game, with Travis Stroot running the ball in with less than eight minutes to go in the quarter. Yim Sribenjakul made a successful kick attempt and the Bobcats took an early 7 to 0 lead.
The Bobcats seized their next opportunity for a touchdown when Bajin Smith picked up a Pirates fumble on Victor's 18 yardline. After a strong offensive push, Drew Walen ran the ball in for a 7-yard touchdown. The Bobcats tried for a two-point conversion but were stopped by the Pirate defense who held the score to 13 to 0.
Not to go down without a fight, the Pirates scored a touchdown and completed a two-point conversion with less than two minutes left in the quarter, bringing the score to 13 to 8.
In the remaining time in the first quarter the Bobcats made an offensive push, which included a 32-yard run by Stroot, which set them up for a touchdown early in the second quarter. Within the first 30 seconds of the second quarter, Stroot connected with Tyler Stenberg for a pass and Sribenjakul completed a kick to widen the Bobcats lead to 20 to 8.
The Pirates made their bid for another touchdown and Gatlin Lamb connected with Cody Burdett for a touchdown on fourth down with more than 5 minutes to go in the quarter. The Bobcats stopped their attempt for a two-point conversion and held the score to 20 to 14.
With 3 minutes left to go in the second quarter, Stroot completed a pass to Walen who then ran the ball in 28 yards for a touchdown. Sribenjakul missed the kick attempt and the Bobcats widened their lead to 26 to 14.
With less than a minute in the second quarter the Bobcats pulled off another touchdown when Stroot connected with Rollin Rennick and Sribenjakul made a successful kick, earning the Bobcats a halftime lead of 33 to 14.
When the Bobcats returned to the game they stopped the Pirates offense almost completely, not allowing a single Pirates touchdown for the nearly rest of the game.
“We wanted to really improve on defense and shut their run down and that's what we did,” Lucier said.
The Bobcats took advantage of Stroot's excellent passing game to score four more touchdowns.
The Pirates managed to squeeze one last touchdown past the Bobcats, finishing off the game behind 61 to 20.
“We were focused. We knew what we had to do and we did it just like planned on,” Lucier said.
This game set the Bobcats up with a 5 and 0 record, a number one position in the Western C Conference, and a 28th place ranking nationally as of press time. They will play Sheridan away Friday to defend their record.