With heavy rain playing a huge factor, the Bowie football team surrendered five turnovers, including three fumbles and fell on their Homecoming night to the Irvin Rockets 24-14, as they fall to 2-4 overall and 0-2 in district play.

“Honestly we weren’t ready, we came out with an outcome that we didn’t expect, but we got to keep our heads up and just keep working. We can still make playoffs after this.” running back Nathan Felix said.

Although the Bears, who played their first game at the newly renovated stadium turf this year, were down in the fourth quarter, they kept fighting back. A long kickoff return and two plays were enough for Felix to take a 30-yard rush into the end zone to cut Irvin’s lead to 24-14, just a minute after Irvin quarterback Jesus Aguirre ran in a 4-yard touchdown to extend their lead to 24-7.

“We didn’t give up on this game, and that’s a good sign, we kept our head up high,” Felix said.

After a change at quarterback to start the second half, the Bears drove down the field in nine plays, resulting in a 26-yard touchdown pass to the right side from William Carrasco to Carlos Varela on a risky 4th-and-4 to cut Irvin’s lead to 17-7.

“I saw the cornerback playing deep, so I tried to take him to the inside so I could free up the outside. I just saw the ball and tried my best to get it, and I got it”, Varela said.

The Bears struggled offensively in the first half, as they only racked up only 61 yards of total offense and turned the ball over four times as Irvin capitalized and took a convincing 17-0 lead into halftime.

“We always start slow, that’s our problem, but we can do better. We just have to keep working,” offensive lineman Alejandro Longoria said.

Wide receiver/cornerback Joel Tarango scored one touchdown and had two interceptions for Irvin and the Bears struggled to stop the running game again, as running back Devon Driscoll finished with over 100 yards on the ground and one score.

“I wish we could’ve won for the kids, the bottom line is that we coach because we love our kids and we want them to do well, so I wish we could’ve won for them. We were able to identify some things we weren’t doing very well, the kids came out with some fire and that’s all we can ask for. But we need to play a whole game, not just the second half,” head coach Robert Padilla said.

The Bears will look to bounce back next week, when they take on the Austin Panthers Oct. 19 at R.E. McKee Stadium.