On a night of many scenario’s on the football turf at Hopper Field on Friday night, none was more unexpected than a come from behind overtime victory by the Bay City Black Cats over the Brazosport Exporters.

Coming into the District opener for the Black Cats, the Exporter had lost their two previous games by a combined score of 125 to 3 to their opponents.

The Black Cats knew that Brazosport was a better team than the two previous week’s scores had indicated, but never expected that on homecoming night for the Exporters that they themselves would have to come back in the final minutes of regulation to tie the football game and send it to overtime.

The Cats had to rely on a 68 yard pass play from Derek Brown to Dennis Martin with 1:18 left in the 4th quarter and an ensuing 2 point conversion by Brown on a run to tie the game.

In overtime, Brazosport took the football and was only able to convert a 40 yard field goal by Abram Garcia to take the lead.

Bay City then took possession and ran 6 plays before Derek Brown handed the Black Cats the victory with a one yard scamper on a run that saw him diving headlong into the pylon on the right side of the formation for a 1 yard touchdown run to seal the Black Cats first victory in District 23-4A play this season.

Bay City opened the game with an 8 play 78 yard drive which was capped off with a 39 yard touchdown run by Derek Brown for the opening score to the game. The extra point attempt was not good, giving the Cats a 6 to 0 lead at the 9:47 mark of the first quarter.

The Cats took a 13-0 lead when Derek Brown found Larry Cunningham on a 53 yard pass and run with 4:14 left it the first quarter.

Brazosport answered on their next possession with a 5 play 57 yard drive that ended with a 40 yard pass play from Trey McLean to Arinzo Bryan for the touchdown. Brazosport converted their extra point making the score 13-7 at the 4:14 mark of the first quarter.

Bay City then came back on their next possession and drove 8 plays before the Exporters stopped them and the Cats attempted a Shane Reynal 42 yard field goal. The attempt was not good, as Reynal’s kick hit the horizontal crossbar and fell back into the field of play coming up just inches short of 3 points.

The Exporters then took the football and drove on the Cats taking the ball all the way to the Black Cat 12 yard line before a very intense Bay City defense stopped the Exporters on downs with 2:12 left until halftime.

The Cats would then take exactly 52 seconds to score on a 62 yard touchdown pass from Derek Brown to Ricco Smith making the score 19 to 7 going into the half.

At the half, Bay City had already racked up 285 yards of total offense to 127 for Brazosport.

The Exporters took the second half kickoff and drove 60 yard for their next score. It came on a 4 yard run by Claude Lowe on a 4th down at the Black Cats 4 yard line making the score Bay City 19 and the Exporters 14 at the 7:38 mark of the 3rd quarter.

After both teams exchanged punts, the Cats then scored on another big play, as Derek Brown found Dennis Martin on a 41 yard pitch and catch to put Bay City up 26-14. at the 2:22 mark of the 3rd quarter.

The Exporters would not give in to the Cats and found the end zone again at the 8:58 mark of the 4th quarter on a 5 yard touchdown run by Jared Fletcher. This came on an extended 8 play, 77 yard drive. The extra point was good making the score 26-21 in the Cats favor.

Bay City was then stymied on a 3 and out series and the Exporters took the first lead in the game with 4:14 left in regulation on a 3 yard run by senior Exporter running back, Estaban Guzman. The extra point attempt was not good, making the score Brazosport 27, Bay City 26.

On the next series, the Cats saw a very fluke scenario take place as Derek Brown connected with Larry Cunningham on a pass play, but Cunningham was hit and Arinzo Bryan recovered the football in midair and took it in on a 40 yard fumble recovery for an Exporter touchdown at the 3:47 mark in the fourth quarter. The extra point was good giving the Exporters an 8 point advantage, 34-26.

The Black Cats then took the ensuing kickoff and drove 68 yard on the Exporters with a 9 play drive that was capped off with a 7 yard touchdown pass from Derek Brown to Dennis Martin.

The Cats were then still down by 2 points and were attempting to go for the 2 point conversion when the Exporters stopped them.

Only the Exporters were flagged for being offsides giving the Cats new life and this time Derek Brown took the ball over the goal for the 2 point conversion to tie the game at 34 with 1:18 left in regulation.

Big play maker, Courtney Finney stepped up on the Black Cat defense to shut down long Exporter pass with 15 seconds.

The Cats then took the ball down field and attempted a 43 yard Shane Reynal field goal that was no good.

The Exporters were penalized for running into the kicker and the Cats had another shot at the win with a 30 yard Reynal field goal attempt on the last play of the game.

The 30 yard attempt fell short also sending the game into overtime.

The Black Cat offense was a strong point on the evening with Derek Brown leading the way with 394 yard passing on the night completing 24 of 30 passes with 1 interception. He also rushed for 109 yard on 15 carries putting him over 500 yards total offense.

Dennis Martin Larry Cunningham, Andrew Sundin and Ricco Smith all got into the action on the receiving end of Brown’s passes. Martin had 6 catches for 134 yards and 2 touchdowns, Cunningham, 5 for 77 yards and a touchdown, Sundin had 2 big critical catches for 41 yards and Ricco Smith had 1 catch for 63 yards which resulted in a touchdown.

The Cats spoiled the Exporter homecoming festivities and look to continue their winning ways this coming Friday night at Memorial Stadium with a win against the Lamar Consolidated Mustangs in their second District 23-4A matchup. Kick off is set for 7:30 PM and the game will be broadcast on Happy Radio, 92.5 FM.