By By HAROLD WEST / Niles Daily Star
CENTREVILLE -- Brandywine's Bobcats faced an unexpectedly tough opponent Friday night when they took on the Centerville's Bulldogs.
The bulldogs opened the first quarter scoring when Paul Stewart connected with Josh Minger for a late touchdown and then again for the two-point conversion.
Brandywine tried to answer back but the Bobcats were stopped short when Centerville's B.J. Schrader broke through the line and sacked Billy Syrette to end the quarter.
The Bulldogs came back to lead off the second quarter, on third-and-four, when Stewart found Steve Mostrom with a pass to set them up with their first down. Kyle Roach carried the ball across for the Bulldogs' second touchdown. The extra point attempt came up short but left Centreville leading the Bobcats 14-0.
Brandywine rallied with a series of carries by Rob Deverna and Evan Smith to put the Bobcats within reach of their first touchdown.
A short pass from Smith to Eugene Miller was all that was needed to put Brandywine back on track. The extra point attempt was short leaving them trailing 14-6.
Centerville then recovered the onside kickoff on the 47-yard line which set up Roach to carry 25 yards for the Bulldogs' third touchdown of the first half, picking up the two-point conversion with 2:46 remaining in the half.
The Bobcats tried to recuperate with a carry by Smith followed by a 30-yard pass to Syrette.
Deverna caught a pass for a touchdown but there was a flag on the play for pass interference against Brandywine that set them back only for Smith to repeat the pass to Syrette for the touchdown and followed with a successful two-point conversion to close the half for the Bobcats trailing 22-14.
The second half found Brandywine fighting for field position only to come up with a fumble that was recovered by the Bulldogs.
In the third quarter Brandywine was able to score its third touchdown after inching down the field.
Another fumble in the fourth set the Bulldogs up for yet another touchdown and extra point putting Centreville ahead 30-20 where Brandywine could not recover.
Brandywine hosts Buchanan next Friday night at 7:30 p.m.