The football team rallied from a 21-0 deficit early in the first half and fell short 28-21 in overtime to the Austin Panthers as they fall to 2-5 overall and 0-3 in district play.

“I’m just proud, we never backed down. Proud of the seniors, proud of the whole team. We are going to go hard, we owe the fans one. They’re always supporting us and we owe them one. It’s family,” linebacker Sergio Reyes said.

Austin started with the ball first in overtime, where they scored in eight plays to take the lead 28-21. Bowie got their chance to tie but were stopped short of the first down marker on a 4th-and-4.

“We knew that we still had a chance in the game, we never felt like we were out of it, even down almost the whole game,” Reyes said.

After holding Austin inside their own five-yard line to punt late in the fourth quarter, Bowie started their final drive at Austin’s 33-yard line. Nathan Felix got Bowie down to the one yard line, where William Carrasco ran into the end zone with 50.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 21.

“I did my best to get us into scoring position and we still felt good about our chances when we tied it up,” Felix said.

An Austin punt to start the third quarter led to a John Moran punt return that put the Bears at Austin’s 30-yard line to start their first possession of the second half. The drive resulted in a 2-yard touchdown run by Nathan Felix, his eighth touchdown of the season, and cut Austin’s lead to 21-14.

“I picked the ball and just tried to do something to try and give the offense life, it all happened so fast but I’m glad I got to help the team come closer,” Moran said.

The first half was dominated by Austin’s William Rodriguez, who racked up 143 yards and three touchdowns on seven carries to give his team an early 21-0 lead. An Austin fumble inside their own 10-yard line and a Bowie recovery set up a 9-yard touchdown run by Justin Diaz to cut Austin’s lead to 21-7 at halftime.

The Bears will look to bounce back and pick up their first district win when they take on the Burges Mustangs Oct. 26, at Baty-Simmang Stadium.