The Bogue Chitto Bobcats got stung by the Loyd Star Hornets 55-0 in the annual Possum Bowl Friday night in their season opener. The Bobcats traveled to Loyd Star with a young team and it showed on the field.

“We did not play well tonight,” Bogue Chitto head coach Gareth Sartin said. “We had too many mistakes. We will take these mistakes we had and work on them next week to get the team ready for Enterprise next week.”

In the first quarter, tried to employ the element of surprise by means of an onside kick, but failed and gave Loyd Star prime field position. Not long after, Michael Harvey got the Hornets on the board with a eight-yard scamper and Parker Flowers nailed the extra point to put the Hornets up 7-0 over the Bobcats.

The Bobcats shot themselves in the foot on their first drive when quarterback Trey Nettles mishandled the snap for a negative play. The newly installed quarterback mishandled the snap again and turned the football over on downs.

After getting the ball back , Hornets’ running back Zac Arnold scored on a 25-yard run and the field goal brought the score to 14-0.  The Hornets’ scoring barrage was not yet complete though, as Parker Flowers broke for a 58-yard touchdown. The Hornets missed the field goal to make the score 20-0 in their favor.

In the second quarter, a 38-yard run by Clay set up  Flowers’ seven-yard touchdown run. Loyd Star lined up for the PAT, but a bad snap forced them to pick the ball up and run it in for the two point conversion. The Hornets were able to reach paydirt one more time on a twenty yard run and went into the locker room with a commanding 34-0 lead.

The Hornets quickly picked up where they left off after halftime, as James Beard ran in a one-yard touchdown at the 10:33 mark of the third quarter.

It was much of the same in the fourth quarter as Loyd Star scored on an 11-yard run by Patrick Price. After a fumble by the Bobcats, Patrick Price would cap off the Hornets’ scoring for the night when he scored on a 35-yard run.

The Bobcats will host the Enterprise Yellow Jackets Thursday night at Troy Smith Field.

Offensively for the Bobcats, Sherman Jackson had 6 carries for 27 yards. Trey Nettles completed 5 of 12 pass attempts for 130 yards with one interception. Henry Thomas had three catches for 12 yards. Kody Halford had two catches for 18 yards.

Offensively for the Hornets, Parker Flowers had eight carries for 149 yards. Michael Harvey had seven carries for 36 yards. Zac Arnold had five carries for 83 yards. Patrick Price had four carries for 96 yards. Harvey completed one pass out of three attempts for fifteen yards and one interception.

Defensively for the Bobcats, Sherman Jackson led the team with eight tackles. Dylon Brown contributed with five tackles. Darrius Porter, Eli Wallace, and Kody Halford all had four tackles.

Henry Thomas, Bryce Langley, Trey Nettles, Tanner Gunther all had three tackles. Loyd Star’s next game will be against McLaurin at home, where they hope to avenge last year’s heartbreaking, last-minute loss to  the Tigers.