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By: Donnamy Steele

The Opp High School Bobcats varsity football team (6-1, 4-0) took down Providence Christian (2-4, 0-3) 34-12 Friday night in a region matchup.

Coach Brent Hill said he did not like the start to the game, but was proud to see his team improve throughout the game.

“I didn’t like the start, but it was nice to have a lead at the half,” Hill said. “I thought Providence had a great game plan. They did a good job and they went and controlled the ball.”

Hill plans to work with the team to prevent penalties next week.

“I thought we had too many silly penalties,” Hill said. “You can’t have penalties and things like that, so we’ve got to clean that up. That’s a big region game and it’s nice to get the win but I’d like to see us play better.”

Hill said the Bobcats need to be quicker for next week’s game against Wicksburg.

“We’ve got to get better upfront and we just have to be quicker. We need to work on some of our rhythm and pace and our execution, and we’ve got to get back to winning the game up at the line of scrimmage that’s the big thing. I haven’t watched them so I’ll watch it and we’ll look at it, but Wicksburg is a big physical team.”

Opp takes on Wicksburg at Wicksburg on Friday at 7 p.m.

Quarterback Hal Smithart led in passing going 27 for 41 with 367 yards and two touchdowns. Smithart also had two rushing attempts for 26 yards and two touchdowns.

Lane Ballard led in receiving with 10 catches for 189 yards and a touchdown. Jackson Pierce had 9 catches for 65 yards, Peyton Ellis had two catches for 33 yards and a touchdown and Curt Zorn had two catches for 32 yards.

On defense, Brady Lester led with 9 tackles, Kevin Parreria had eight tackles, Brady James had six tackles and two blocked PATs, Cole Jennings had six tackles and a fumble recovery and Tanner Hall, Reseasn Dawson and Curt Zorn had four tackles each.