No. 8 Football Cats Make Point at Point
VALLEY, Ala. – The No. 8 Bethel Wildcats made a point Saturday in Valley, Alabama against the Point Skyhawks. Leading 17-13 at the half the Cats pulled away for a season opening 51-13 win over the Skyhawks.
Entering the season, there were some in the Bethel camp who thought the Cats were worthy of a top five national ranking. After an impressive second half, the Cats looked like a top five squad.
The 34-point second half was reminiscence of the second half the Cats put on Point last year in McKenzie. Bethel scored 28 unanswered to win 28-3 in that game.
The Wildcats used an opening drive of 65 yards to take the early lead. Joaquin Collazo III scored on a one yard run and after the point after by Andrew Welch, Bethel led 7-0.
Six minutes later, Point drove 89 yards to tie the game.
Mitchell Faulkner scored at the 14:37 mark of the second stanza to allow the Wildcats to retake the lead. Faulkner ran in from 20 yards out capping off a five play 67-yard drive. Welch's point after gave Bethel a 14-7 lead.
The Wildcats upped their margin to 17-7 on a 23-yard field goal by Welch with 3:52 left in the half. The kick capped off a 73-yard drive.
After running into the punter and giving Point a first down, the Skyhawks capitalized on the Bethel mistake and scored with 20 seconds left in the half. The point after was no good and Bethel had a 17-13 lead at the break.
The Wildcats scored late in the third (2:07) quarter to move back out to a double-digit lead at 24-13. Collazo dove in from one yard out. The dive completed a 12 play 89-yard drive. The Welch PAT was good, and the Wildcats moved out to a 24-13 lead. That was the only score of the quarter and Bethel entered the final quarter with the 11-point lead.
The Wildcats blew the game open with four more scores. Martize Smith scored on a ten-yard run. Senior Demetrice Gilbert had two, (that's right) two pick six interceptions. The first was a return for 58 yards and the other was a 33-yard interception score.
Gilbert has 11 career interceptions which ranks him tied for fourth most in program history.
Bethel added another late score to win 51-13.
Bethel had a 224-150 margin in passing yards and a 200-107 advantage in rushing yards.
Martize Smith was the leading rusher for Bethel with 74 yards. J D Dixon caught six passes for 55 yards. Jaylen Taylor had four receptions for 56 yards. Collazo was 17-28 for 224 yards in the victory.
Bethel's defense was led by Brian Hughes who had six total tackles. Kedrick Walker followed with five total stops. Brody Franks had four.
It was Bethel's 13th straight regular season win. The victory was the third against Point. Bethel is 3-0 versus Point.
Coach Michael Jasper was proud of the effort. "My hat goes off to Coach Zieders and his entire program. He had his young men ready to play and they fought their tails off for four quarters. I thought we came out and played hard, but the execution was lacking. I'm proud of our effort and how our guys locked in to earn a win against a good and up and coming program "Jasper added, "We have a lot to evaluate and to work on during this bye week. A huge thank you to our Bethel family for their support. Our fans packed out our bleachers. It's a blessing to have so much love and support."
After an open date next week, the Cats play St. Andrews in their home opener on September 9 with kick-off at noon.