PHOTO BY NICOLE DILL
Head Coach Bo Helm secured his first win as a Head Coach when the Childress Bobcats defeated the Abernathy Antelopes 16-14 in their first game of the season Friday night.
Helm was named the new Athletic Director/Head Football Coach for Childress High School at the Monday, May 9 Childress School Board meeting. Before being selected as the new Head Football Coach, Helm served as the Defensive Coordinator at Childress High School. Helm had also been the interim Athletic Director since former Bobcat AD Jason Sims was reassigned in April of this year.
Helm is a Childress High School and South Dakota State University graduate. He is a former SDSU Defense Back, MVFC All-Academic 2nd team and has nine years of coaching experience with 7 years previous coaching in Childress and two years as the Defense Coordinator.
In the first quarter, Childress intercepted an Abernathy pass and had the ball on their own 23 yard line. Abernathy ran in their first touchdown with 8 minutes to go in the first quarter and kicked the extra point for a 0-7 score. Childress answered by completing a 60 yard pass for touchdown and made the PAT kick, tying the game at 7 at the end of the 1st quarter.
With 6 minutes to go in the 2nd, Abernathy’s defense held Childress in the first three downs. With 4th down and goal from the 12, the Bobcat kicking team came onto the field and made a 22 yard field goal, giving Childress the lead over Abernathy 10 to 7.
A hard fought back and forth battle would ensue in the second half, with turnovers for both teams being a major factor. The lead would change hands a couple of times, and with less than 2 minutes to go the Bobcats managed to force a turnover that would ultimately give them the ball with the lead, and the Childress Bobcats would be able to run out the clock and secure their first win, 16-14 against a tough Abernathy team.
Seth Taylor had 116 yards passing, 1 touchdown, and 25 yards rushing. Dareon Mathis had 99 yards rushing and 1 touchdown.
Lamont Nickelberry had 56 receiving, 1 touchdown and 1 Interception.
Custer Keys had 2 interceptions.
For Childress, there were a total of 61 plays, 243 yards, 103 passing yards, 127 rushing yards, 14 first downs, 1 turnover, 1 interception, 7 penalties, and 43 penalty yards.
For Abernathy, there were 58 plays, 239 total yards, 131 passing yards, 97 rushing yards, 24 first downs, 5 turnovers, 2 lost fumbles, 3 interceptions, 6 penalties, and 55 penalty yards.
Next week, Sept. 2, Childress takes on Breckenridge for Homecoming. Kick off will be at 7 PM.