Bobcats Fall to Wesley in Home Opener

On the rainy afternoon of September 5, the Frostburg Bobcats returned for their first home game of season. These men would host #5 ranked Wesley College in a home opener which would prove to become a lopsided affair. Despite an evenly matched first quarter, the Wolverines of Wesley were able to crack the game wide open in the second and third quarters with a high scoring passing attack, upending the Bobcats by score of 44-3.

Although the final score was lopsided, it took well over a quarter for the Wesley Wolverines to pad a comfortable lead. Shortly after kickoff, the Bobcats were able to force fumbles and take two early possessions away from the Wolverines. The first of the two loose ball situations was forced by multiple Bobcat tacklers near the Wesley sideline during a punt return. The second came after a long catch and run by Wesley running back Joe Callahan, who lost control of the rain-slicked ball as he was brought to the turf. Neither of the ensuing Bobcat possessions turned into points, however the turnovers were enough to scramble the Wesley offense throughout the remainder of the first quarter, which remained a scoreless stalemate through the first 15 minutes of play.

In response to the early turnovers, the Wesley defense was able to stonewall the Bobcat attack on seemingly every drive. Freshman quarterback Connor Cox was held to just 100 yards passing, and completed only 12 of his 26 pass attempts, tossing two interceptions in the process. The Bobcats also stalled on the ground, rushing for a total of 101 yards as a team. Cox led the Bobcats rushing attack with 58 yards on the ground. The Wesley defense also held the Bobcats 4 of 15 on third down conversion attempts, and allowed Frostburg only 14 total first downs in the game, compared to Wesley’s 31 first downs.

The Wesley defense wasn’t the only story of the day however. The Wolverines’ senior quarterback Joe Callahan threw for 424 yards and five touchdowns. Callahan connected with Wesley wide receiver Bryce Shade on four of his five passing scores; the other touchdown was credited to junior Wolverine wide receiver James Okike.

Frostburg’s only score of the game came via a second quarter drive which stalled deep in Wesley territory. Junior kicker Isaac Robinson punched a 32 yard field goal through the uprights to give the Bobcats three points and prevent a shutout.

Now with the home opener behind them, the Bobcats will head to Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista, VA to visit the NJAC rival SVU Knights. The game will mark a homecoming of sorts for Frostburg State University’s head coach DeLane Fitzgerald, who was also the head coach at Southern Virginia before coming to Frostburg. Bobcat player Percy Haskins voiced his determination to rebound from the loss against Wesley, and take down his head coach’s former team. “You can expect a team that is hungry,” said Haskins “this is a TCB (Take care of business) game for us.”

The Bobcats head to Southern Virginia with a record of 1-1, and hope to improve on that record with a win Saturday, against the Knights team who also lost its season opener to Rhodes college last week. “We have to keep our foot on the gas pedal.” says Haskins, “This game is business as usual.”