By Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

McDERMOTT— The Green Bobcats face two straight big games that could decide their Southern Ohio Conference title fate.
But fate was not on their side on Friday. Without their top two linemen on both sides of the ball. The Bobcats battled the first place Northwest Mohawks only to fall 28-19.
“Playing without our two bet linemen made it a challenge on both sides of the ball, but our boys played with a great deal of heart,” said Green coach Chad Coffman.
“It was a great high school football game and I was really proud of how our boys competed. We came up a few seconds and a few inches short on three or four defining plays. That is great motivation to get back to practice so we can work harder.”
After losing to Portsmouth Notre Dame and Northwest in consecutive games, Green is now 6-2 overall and 1-2 in the SOC. Northwest held onto its first place lead with the win and improved to 6-2 overall and 3-0 in the SOC.
“Obviously, these last two checkpoints did not turn out in our favor. I liked our response from the adversity from last week, we will need a very good week this week to finish the season strong,” said Coffman.
The game was scoreless until midway through the second quarter when Tanner Bolin hit Connor Lintz on a 40-yard touchdown pass play. The conversion kick failed and it was 6-0 at the 6:57 mark.
Green came right back to take the lead as Abe McBee and Landan Lodwick teamed up on a 75-yard touchdown pass. Quincy Merrill’s kick put the Bobcats up 7-6 with 5:05 to go in the half.
But the Mohawks took a 14-7 halftime lead when Wyatt Brackman ran 4 yards for the TD with no time on the clock. Brackman also ran for the conversion.
Green pulled to within 14-13 when McBee kept the ball and went 48 yards for the score. The extra point kick failed.
Northwest then took control asBrackman ran for two straight touchdowns to build a 28-13 lead.
Brackman had a 14-yard scoring run with 9:29 to play and it was 20-13.
Brackman then got free for a 45-yard touchdown jaunt and he added the conversion run and it was 28-13 with 4:53 to play.
Green didn’t quit as McBee ran 16 yards for the score with 1:02 to go. The conversion run failed.
The Bobcats ran 39 times for 155 yards with McBee picking up 107 yards on 13 carries. Nathaniel Brannigan had 58 yards on 18 attempts.
McBee was 2-of-3 passing for 100 yards. Jon Knapp failed to connect on 4 attempts.
Lodwick hd the one catch for 75 yards and Gabe McBee had one reception for 25 yards.
Trevor Sparks led the defense with 17 tackles — 4 solo stops and 11 assists. He also had a sack and a tackle for a loss. Braxton Conschafsky had 17 tackles including 7 solos.
Brannigan got 7 solo tackles and 12 total while Blake Smith had 10 stop and 3 were solo tackles.
Green will host Sciotoville East this Friday.
Green 0 7 6 6 = 19
Northwest 0 14 0 14 = 28
Second Quarter
NW — Connor Lintz 40 pass from Tanner Bolin (kick failed) 6:57
Grn — Landan Lodwick 75 pass from Abe McBee (Quincy Merrill kick) 5:05
NW — Wyatt Brackman 4 run (Brackman run) 0:00
Third Quarter
Grn — Abe McBee 48 run (kick failed) 1:12
Fourth Quarter
NW — Wyatt Brackman 14 run (kick failed) 9:29
NW — Wyatt Brackman 45 run (Brackman run) 4:53
Grn — Abe McBee 16 run (run failed) 1:02