Pictured is Zach Miller
Abilene – The Abilene Cowboys held off Marysville to pick up their first victory since October 19, 2018. That season Abilene finished 4-5 and won the regular season finale 26-21 at home over Ulysses. The Cowboys hosted Ulysses in the first round of the playoffs the following week and lost 28-0. Abilene would then go on to lose 24 additional games in a row.
In the victory Friday night, it was the first meeting between Abilene and Marysville since 2017. In the first half, the Cowboys had good field position on every series and capitalized on their third possession with a 17 yard touchdown pass play from Junior, Stocton Timbrook to Junior, Brax Fisher with 8:41 to play in the half. Abilene took a 7-0 lead into halftime.
Marysville got the momentum in the third quarter as they held the Cowboys on 4th down at the Bulldog 41 yard line. The Bulldogs would then put together a 10 play, 59 yard drive that took 7:53 off the clock. The drive was capped by a Peyton Smith 6 yard run to tie the game at 7, after the extra-point, with 2:13 to play. Smith rushed for 97 yards on 21 carries in the loss.
On the ensuing possession Abilene would grab the lead back. The Cowboys got a huge play on 3rd and 7 at their 32 yard line, Timbrook connected with Sophomore, Joseph Welsh on a 44 yard pass play to the Marysville 26 yard line. Later in the drive Timbrook found Fisher again for a 6 yard score to give the Cowboys back the lead for good.
The Nex-Tech Wireless Players of the Game were Timbrook and Fisher on offense. Timbrook was 13-19 for 178 yards and 2 touchdowns. Fisher caught 6 passes for 65 yards and 2 scores. Zach Miller kept the defense honest with 20 carries for 75 yards. The offensive line was the question mark entering the season but showed big improvement in the victory Friday. The line is anchored by Seniors, Tristan Randles and Richard Ortiz.
The Defensive Players of the Game were the entire Cowboy defense. Abilene gave up 43.6 ppg last season but only surrendered 7 points Friday night. The Cowboys put two stands together late in the game as they held Marysville at the Abilene 3 yard line on their next to last possession and then on the Bulldogs final possession they turned it over on downs at the Cowboys 45.
Abilene will travel to Concordia next Friday. The Panthers defeated Chapman 26-20 at home Friday night. You can listen to the game on AM 1560 & 95.9 KABI and www.kabithegeneral.com
