One team was fighting for its playoff life. The other was merely fighting for respect.
In a match-up of two teams who have had more than their share of difficulties this season, the Independence 76ers kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a 42-13 victory against the Ann Sobrato Bulldogs at Live Oak High School Friday.
“We asked our kids for four quarters and I think we got three and three fourths of a quarter,” Independence head coach Norm Brown said. “We won tonight and we hope we have a chance at the playoffs. We’ve learned some lessons along our tough journey. It hasn’t been very easy.”
The Bulldogs found it problematic to get the offense on the right track all night long. Just when it seemed like they were settling into a bit of a groove by picking up a first down or two, the wind was taken out of their sails by a miscue on offense or a stifling stand from the Independence defense.
Sobrato head coach Albert King thought the inability of his offense to keep its momentum going served as a fitting analogy for the difficult season they have endured, but he sees progress in the way his team keeps fighting.
“Every game is maturing process and in any kind of competition you’ve got to learn how to finish,” King said. “The fact that we are so young we seem to forget the little last thing when we get on the 15 or the 20. We make some kind of mental mistake, and that’s the thing that is holding us back.”
Coming into the season Sobrato had just six seniors on the team, with only two of those suiting up last night due to injury.
The rushing attack for the 76ers paved the way to victory with their ground game racking up 253 yards. Independence used a host of running backs to get the job done as its offense had little trouble asserting its will against the Sobrato defense.
“The best thing we did was we tried to platoon our backs, and we got a couple guys back on grades so that helped us out a little bit,” Brown said.
The 76ers wasted little time in taking control of the game by quickly stopping Sobrato’s opening drive and forcing a punt that was downed at midfield.
After moving the ball into the Sobrato red zone senior running back Karl Frost put the 76ers on the board first with a 12-yard touchdown run on a third-and-eight to give Independence a 7-0 lead.
Sobrato managed to sustain a longer drive on its second possession, but was unable to keep the momentum going as it stalled out near midfield, resulting in another punt.
Taking over at their own 25, the 76ers methodically marched down the field, culminating in another touchdown run from Frost to make the score 14-0 with a little more than seven minutes left in the first half.
Another snuffed out Sobrato drive led to another punt, with the 76ers taking over at their own 23. Independence once again had no trouble moving down the field, and the 76ers added another touchdown on a 10-yard scoring scamper by Nate Booker to take a comfortable 21-0 lead just before halftime.
Fortunes turned a bit for Sobrato in the second half as the 76ers fumbled the kickoff to begin the third quarter, giving Sobrato the ball at the Independence 33-yard line.
The Bulldogs hit pay dirt a few plays later on a 1-yard plunge by junior running back Max Zhang to make it a 21-7 ball game.
However, two plays after the ensuing kickoff the 76ers found the promised land again as senior quarterback Norel Booker broke free for a 56-yard touchdown run to give Independence a 28-7 lead.
The 76ers added two more scores in the fourth quarter to take a commanding 42-7 lead with six minutes left.
To their credit, the Bulldogs kept fighting to the end and managed to add another touchdown on a 33-yard run by junior quarterback Nick Sicolo to close out the scoring.
With the loss, Sobrato drops to 0-9 overall on the season, and will play its season finale next Friday against Oak Grove.
