PORTER – In typical Orangefield fashion, the Bobcats fought hard in their Class 4A Region III bidistrict playoff encounter with the Bellville but they still came up short to the Brahmas for the second straight year.
The Brahmas took advantage of three Bobcat turnovers and used the big-play legs of back Chancellor Leaks-Gillum and quarterback Marcus Ward to notch a 35-14 victory Saturday at Texan Drive Stadium.

Bellville defeated the Bobcats in the same round last year 45-21.
“We could not cash in on some opportunities tonight with some costly turnovers and they (Bellville) were able to get a few long plays that hurt us,” said Orangefield coach Josh Smalley, who has led the Bobcats to five straight postseason berths. “Our kids played really hard, as always. Give credit to Bellville, their kids played well.”
Leaks-Gillum carried seven times for 103 yards and scored on a long run and brought back a a long punt return for a score in the first half. Ward rushed for 156 yards on 14 carries and scored three touchdowns in the second half.
“Those two kids are elusive for sure,” said Smalley. “We saw the Leaks-Gillum kid on film and we were really impressed with him coming in. The Ward kid, he reminds me a lot of Chaka Watson at WO-S. He’s so quick and he knows how to make you miss. When you think you have him wrapped up, he squeezes through and he’s gone.”
Bellville (6-5) outgained the Bobcats (3-5) 324-253.
Bellville will move on to face Fairfield in the area round.
Bobcat senior quarterback Christian Louvier paced the Orangefield offense with 91 yards on 16 carries.
Running back Dylan Williams had 68 yards on eight carries and a touchdown while fullback Blake Bradley had nine carries for 30 yards and a score.
Bellville took a 14-7 edge into half time after the first half saw five turnovers, the swift legs of senior Leaks-Gillum and a big drive at the end of the second quarter by the Bobcats.
Orangefield defensive lineman Michael Teeples fell on a fumble by Ward at the Bellville 31 on the second play from scrimmage as the Bobcats took over with 11:20 in the first quarter.
The Bobcats, however, returned the favor when Louvier had a tough nine-yard run to the Bellville 3 but he fumbled the ball over to the Brahmas.
Bellville was able to get on the board first when Leaks-Gillum took a handoff to the right, cut back over the middle and outsprinted the Bobcat secondary for a 68-yard touchdown gallop. Kicker Leo Guerrero booted the extra-point as Bellville led 7-0 with 4:03 in the first quarter.
Leaks-Gillum answered again after the Bellville defense held Orangefield to a three-and-out as he fielded a punt on the bounce at the Bellville 37 and went 63 yards for the score, featuring several nice cutbacks and a leap over one player to find his way into the end zone, pushing the Brahmas lead to 14-0 with 1:56 in the first quarter.
Bellville was able to collect a fumble by Orangefield’s Clayson Choate at the Bobcat 23 with 1:08 in the first.
Choate and the Bobcats got even in a hurry when Choate picked off a Ward pass in the end zone and returned it to the 9 with 11:50 in the half.
The Brahmas got nice field position at the Bobcat 32 with 9:25 in the half and got as far as the 13 but the Bobcat defense came up huge with defensive end Lane Rach sacking Ward, who fumbled the leather over to Rach at the Bobcat 22 with 5:46 in the half.
That enabled the Bobcats to put together a superb 10-play, 78-yard scoring march that chewed up 5:04 off the clock.
Louvier was able to cut loose on a 36-yard keeper down the right side that went to the Bellville 17.
On third-and-8 from the 15, Williams gained exactly eight to set up first-and-goal from the 7.
Fullback Blake Bradley had a four-yard gain to the 1 and he eventually scored on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with a great second effort as he went over left tackle and was able to fall back in the end zone on his backside. Kicker Jacob Rainey drilled the point-after, making it 14-7 with 0:41 in the half.
Orangefield outgained the Brahmas 155-148 in the first 24 minutes.
Louvier had 70 yards on eight carries while Zach Dischler had 31 yards on four carries.
Leaks-Gillum had 92 yards on four carries while Ward had 34 yards on nine totes.
Leaks-Gillum hurt the Bobcats again early in the third quarter when he picked off a Louvier pass at the Bellville 35 and returned it to the Bobcat 41 with 9:06 in the quarter.
Four plays later Ward recovered from a bobbled snap and took it 34 yards up the middle for the score to push the lead to 21-7 with 6:47 in the third.
Bellville put together a nice eight-play, 80-yard scoring drive to go up 28-7 early in the fourth quarter. Ward ran for 78 of the yards, including an elusive 51-yard touchdown gallop with 9:56 remaining.
After holding Orangefield on fourth down, the Brahmas took over at the Bobcat 35 with 6:46 remaining and scored six plays later when Ward managed to go 10 yards up the middle on a sneak play to make it 35-7 with 3:56 remaining.
The Bobcats, however, would not go away quietly in the night.
Williams took a pitch to the right from Louvier. Looking like he was going to suffer a loss of three yards, Williams fought valiantly through a Bellville defender and was able to get away and head back down the left side as he bolted through the Bellville secondary for a 48-yard dart to the end zone to make it 35-14 with 0:20 remaining.
“One thing you can always say about the Bobcats is that there is no quit in them and we, as a staff, are so proud of those guys,” said Smalley. “We’re going to miss our senior group, we love those guys. Since those guys have been in the eighth grade, they’ve seen the Bobcats make the playoffs and we’re super-proud of all of them.”

Bellville 35
Orangefield 14

Bell            14      0       7       14— 35
OF              0       7       0       7 —14

Scoring summary
Bellville: Chancellor Leaks-Gillum 68 run. Leo Guerrero kick.
Bellville: Leaks-Gillum 63 punt return. Guerrero kick.
Orangefield: Blake Bradley 1 run. Jacob Rainey kick.
Bellville: Marcus Ward 34 run. Guerrero kick.
Bellville: Ward 51 run. Guerrero kick.
Bellville: Ward 10 run. Guerrero kick.
Orangefield: Dylan Williams 48 run. Rainey kick.

———
Bell            OF
First downs             15              14
Rushes-yards    37-319  49-253
Passing         5               0
Total yards             324             253
Comp-Att-Int    1-3-1           0-4-1
Fumbles-Lost    3-2             4-2
Penalties-yards         7-65            4-30
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing: Orangefield, Christian Louvier 16-91, Dylan Williams 8-68, Zach Dischler 6-36, Blake Bradley 9-30, Quy Tsan 4-15, Kadeon Evans 2-9, Cade Grozier 1-6, Clyson Choate 2-3, Chase Broussard 1 (-5); Bellville, Marcus Ward 14-156, Chancellor Leaks-Gillum 7-103, James Wiley 10-36, Harrison Holcomb 4-17, Trevon Green 2-7.
Receiving: Orangefield, Christian Louvier 0-4-1 0; Bellville, Marcus Ward 1-3-1 5
Receiving: Orangefield, None; Bellville, Chancellor Leaks-Gillum 1-5.