The Bearcats intercepted their way to a victory against Hanford on Friday night, as they came back from a first half deficit of 10 points, to beat visiting Hanford on Friday night, 27-10.

“Those [interceptions] were huge,” Paso Robles varsity coach Rich Schimke said. “We weren’t getting those breaks in the first half.”

Though the Bearcats improved to 3-0 on the season, Friday’s game was decidedly different than the team’s 52-0 win over Santa Ynez Sept. 7 in their home opener. It was the second time this season that the Bearcats have come from behind for a victory. They were down 19 points at the half in the Sept. 31 game against Highland in Bakersfield, and went on to win that game 29-19.

At the end of the first quarter, the Bullpups were up 3-0 over the Bearcats. The Bullpups were in ideal scoring position for a touchdown, but the Bearcats stiffened to hold Hanford to just three points.

The Bearcats failed to make anything of their first possession.

As the Bullpups took over, Robbie Boggs nearly had the first interception of the night on the Bullpups first down. Instead, it was teammate Travis Davis who intercepted the ball in the end zone on the Bullpups’ third down play.

The Bearcat offense squandered the turnover and it remained 3-0.

The Bearcats started the second quarter with the ball, but that effort proved just as futile as their first drives, Paso struggled to move the ball within striking distance. The Bullpups defense kept the pressure on Bearcats quarterback Brandon Ladley, who finished 10-of-23 for just 101 yards one touchdown and one interception. The performance was a far cry from Ladley’s five-touchdown performance against Santa Ynez.

Ladley also carried the ball 10 times for 44 yards and a touchdown Friday.

Once the Bullpups got the ball back, they moved the ball into a first and goal. With just yards to go for a touchdown, Bullpups quarterback Tyson Perez handed the ball off to Lemuel Hutchings for their team’s first touchdown. With the extra point, the Bullpups took a 10-point lead over the Bearcats.

“They’re big, they’re physical and they were tough,” Schimke said of the Hanford team. “It took us awhile to figure out what we could and couldn’t do against them.”

The Bearcats received the ball at the start of the second half of the game with renewed resolve.

“I think it was pivotal in the second half to drive down the field and score,” Schimke said. “Once we did that we got the monkey off our back and the guys relaxed a little bit and just went out and played hard.”

On their first possession in the second half, the Bearcats moved the ball swiftly. Even a sack by the Bullpups’ Teddy Hernandez did little to slow the Bearcats momentum. A pass to Mike Stark set the Bearcats up on a third down at the 15-yard line. Following that play, Nathan Nelson carried for a first and goal on the eight-yard line. From there, the Bearcats scored their first touchdown as Ladley passed to Mitchell VanDyk in the left corner of the end zone. With the extra point from Ryan Bedell good, the Bearcats trailed the Bullpups by just three points.

“I was open at the moment, it was a nice pass from [Ladley], and our line just blocked really well,” VanDyk said.

The Bullpups offense was shut down quickly by the Bearcats defense and was forced to punt on a fourth and eight on the 22-yard line.

The Bearcats got good field position off the punt, setting up at the 43-yard line. From there the Bearcats got two more first downs to put the ball at a first and goal on the three-yard line. Ladley carried the ball in for the second touchdown of the night, and with the completion of the extra point by Bedell, the Bearcats moved ahead of the Bullpups, 14-10.

And that’s when the tide really began to turn for the Bearcats.

On a third down and eight on the 48-yard line, Perez was forced to run and, as he did, he fumbled the ball.

The Bearcats turned that mistake into another touchdown as they took possession of the ball at the end of the third quarter. On a second and goal on the two-yard line, Nelson took the ball in for a touchdown. The extra point failed, but the Bearcats jumped ahead of the Bullpups, 20-10 at the start of the fourth quarter.

“It was really good blocking up front,” Nelson said. “I could see that I was going to have to jump, so I did, and luckily held onto the ball and got over the line.”

In a reversal from the Sept. 7 game, it was the Bearcat ground game that carried the offensive load.

Nelson had 18 carries for 127 yards to lead the attack as the Bearcats tallied 211 yards rushing as a team.

Following Nelson’s touchdown, the Bearcats got tricky. On the kickoff, Bedell vaulted an onside kick and recovered it to give the Bearcats possession again. But that was short lived as the Bullpups intercepted the ball. The Bullpups took it as far as fourth down and 12 from the 22-yard line, where they tried for a touchdown and failed.

That gave the ball back to the Bearcats. Paso Robles moved the ball down field on carries from Nelson, Ladley, Josh Weferling and Stark. But the Bearcats were forced to punt, and the Bullpups took over on a first and 10 on the 15-yard line.

Then Garried Mitchell caught his first of back-to-back interceptions for the night. The first gave the Bearcats a first and 10 on the 20-yard line. Ladly then ran the ball for a gain of five and Nelson then carried the ball in for another touchdown. This time the extra point was good, as the Bearcats took a 27-10 lead.

“They tried to run a double pass and the defense just read it real good and we came up and made a good play,” Mitchell said of his first interception.

The Bullpups received the ball for a first and 10 on the 40-yard line. On second and 10 at the 50-yard line, Mitchell intercepted the ball again, running the ball half the distance of the field before being tackled.

“I was dropping into coverage and the ball just kind of bounced off the receivers hand, and I luckily grabbed that ball and kept going,” Mitchell said.

Flags on the play put the Bearcats on a first and 10 on the Bullpups nine-yard line. From there, the Bearcats ran out the clock and ran away with their third win of the season.

“[Hanford] came out and they were a very good opponent, I think our toughest so far this year,” Nelson said. “In the first half things were going a little rough, but we came back at the half and played our A-game.”

The Bearcats play their third straight home game against Ridgeview this Friday, Sept. 21. The varsity game starts at 7:30 p.m.



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