SAN ANGELO, TX \u2014 It didn\u2019t take long for the San Angelo Central High Bobcats to score its first touchdown of the 2026 football season.
\nAfter the first series drive turned into a speed-bump, Cats\u2019 senior quarterback, Micah Smith fast-tracked the offense to a scoring drive.
\nThe non-district opener final 28-23 score to win was for head coach, Mark Smith particularly two-fold sweet. First it was the 100th all time meeting between two former teams known as the\u00a0 “Little Southwest Conference” opponents.
\nAnd second, Smith’s Cats had lost consecutive games vs Eagles to start its last two seasons– 60-36 and 42-21.
\nWith Central in the red zone, Smith threw a short reverse swing pass to Tucker Beaty who outraced the defensive secondary for the six points. After the PAT, Cats led 7-0 with 2:27 left in the first quarter.
\nThe Eagles got on the scoreboard when kicker Elisha Batendji banged in a 33-yard field goal to cut the lead, 7-3 Central. The 3-points came with 12-seconds left before the first quarter ended.
\nCentral\u2019s next scoring drive came early in the second quarter when Smith scampered in from 2-yards out to make it a 14-3 halftime lead.
\nIn the third quarter, Central\u2019s special teams\u2019 player Dereon McDuffie blocked a punt and returned it for a 10-yard touchdown. The Bobcats now led 21-3 at the 11:12 mark.
\nAbilene High responded with a score of their own, albeit on a fourth-and-goal. Quarterback Tristan Beal threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jaden West to make it 21-10 Bobcats, with 3:17 left in the third quarter.
\nHeaded into the fourth quarter, the Cats were in command when disaster struck. Quarterback Smith threw an interception that Eagles\u2019 DB Camrin Allen intercepted to set up Abilene\u2019s offense for a score. Abilene quarterback Beal connected with receiver John Rangel for a 23-yarder to cut the Cats lead by five, 21-16. The score came with 11:38 left in the fourth quarter.
\nThe Bobcats\u2019 Smith-led offense took the field at their 16-yard line and marshalled downfield to finish off an 84-yard touchdown drive capped off with an 18-yard pass to Gavin Johnson. The 28-16 score made it a 12-point cushion with 7:29 left in the fourth quarter.
\nJust when it looked like the score would hold up for the Bobcats\u2019 first non-district win of the season, the Eagles quick strike offense cut the lead 28-23 when Beal scored from the six-yard line.
\nCentral High\u2019s offense continued to make it difficult for itself when the final drive stalled at the three-yard line. A field goal attempt was botched when the snapped ball was mishandled.
\nAbilene High\u2019s last-ditch effort for the win failed when the quarterback launched a deep Hail Mary pass down the left sideline that was batted away.
\nThe Bobcats (1-0) next road trip is at Mansfield Lake Ridge on Friday, September 4, 2026. Lake Ridge Eagles lost its season opener vs Prosper Walnut Grove 49-28. Kickoff from RL Anderson Stadium is at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SAN ANGELO, TX \u2014 It didn\u2019t take long for the San Angelo Central High Bobcats to score its first touchdown of the 2026 football season. After the first series drive turned into a speed-bump, Cats\u2019 senior quarterback, Micah Smith fast-tracked the offense to a scoring drive. The non-district opener final 28-23 score to win was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-8485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-posts","tag-san-angelo-central-high-bobcats"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/flacoguapomedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/9W1A3574-2-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/flacoguapomedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/9W1A3574-2-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"flacoguapo87@gmail.com","author_link":"https:\/\/flacoguapomedia.com\/?author=4"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flacoguapomedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flacoguapomedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flacoguapomedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flacoguapomedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flacoguapomedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8485"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/flacoguapomedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8490,"href":"https:\/\/flacoguapomedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8485\/revisions\/8490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flacoguapomedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flacoguapomedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flacoguapomedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flacoguapomedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}