Bronchos Fall to 5th Ranked Cache 28-20
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Launch the media gallery 1 playerCache, OK - Bethany (4A-UR) traveled to Cache (4A-#5) last week for the opening district football matchup of the season. Cache entered the game with victories over Plainview (3A-#13) and Altus (5A-UR), as well as a seven point lost to El Reno (5A-#7). The Bronchos came in 1-2 on the season coming off of a win over Woodward (5A-UR). That win followed Broncho losses to John Marshall (4A-#4) and Jones (2A-#2).
The Bronchos started the game with a strong offensive drive, moving the ball inside Cache's 30 yard line before penalties started taking their toll. Penalties were a big problem for Bethany on the night as they had 12 penalties for over 110 yards in the game. Cache wasted no time to taking control as they had a long touchdown run on just their third offensive snap of the game to take a 7-0 lead. The Bronchos came back though with a nice drive of their own behind a sharp passing game from Gray Adams and took the ball right down into the Cache redzone. Penalties again affected the drive and Bethany had to settle for a Dax Jaggers field goal, which split the uprights to make the score 7-3 in favor of Cache. The Broncho defense settled in at that point and gained four stops the remainder of the first half and allowed just four first downs. The Broncho offense continued clicking on the next two drives, but once again penalties were a major factor in stopping Bethany drives. Finally, nearing the end of the second quarter the Broncho offense got a drive together free of penalties and Adams was able to find Payton Tolle for an eight yard touchdown to give Bethany a 10-7 lead heading into halftime.
After halftime the Broncho offense continue clicking and Adams led Bethany right back down the field mixing an accurate quick passing game with powerful runs from running back Jaden Gilliland. Once in the redzone again, Adams connected with Ebby Lechtenburg on a 28 yard touchdown pass to give Bethany a 17-7 lead in the third quarter. The Cache offense answered though with a touchdown drive of their own to bring the score back to 17-14. On the next offensive drive penalties continue to plague Bethany as they gained two different first downs that were brought back. Cache would block the ensuing Broncho punt and take it back for a touchdown to give Cache a 21-17 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Cache put another drive together early in the fourth and scored to take a 28-17 lead with nine minutes remaining. The Broncho offense went right back down the field again, but the drive stalled in the redzone. Another Dax Jaggers field goal with four minutes left in the game gave Bethany just an eight point deficit and a chance to get a defensive stop. The Broncho defense did just that and Bethany regained posession with just under two minutes left and a chance to win the game. Adams continued to throw the ball accurately and the Bronchos gained some yards on the drive, but couldn't close the deal on score. Cache recovered and was able to run out the clock on a 28-20 loss for the Bronchos.
Coach Arthur would say after the game, "I was pretty proud of our kids tonight, battling with a top five team who returned a bunch of starters from a year ago. We are also proud of how some guys stepped up and played a lot more snaps than normal due to several players being quarantined this week. Overall, we have to eliminate the penalties and dropped balls as those were a big factor in this game tonight. Also, a few bad drives defensively in the third and fourth quarter hurt us. Our kids believe in one another though and we will use this to continue to improve going forward in what is going to be a tough district week in and week out."
Bethany was led by Adams in the loss as he was 32 of 50 throwing the ball for 317 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Adams completed balls to six different receivers. Taylor Heim led the way with six receptions for 63 yards, Jocelyn Malaska had six catches for 61 yards, and Tolle added five catches for 54 yards and a touchdown. Jaden Gilliland ran the ball for 56 yards on 16 carries. Adams, who had to play defensively much more than normal due to some quarantined players had 10 total tackles, while Gilliland and Alex Millspaugh added nine tackles each.
The Bronchos will get back on the field Friday night, October 3 when they travel to Elk City (4A-UR) for a district matchup with the Elks at 7:00 PM.