The Bastrop Bears had little to celebrate on Fat Tuesday.
Bowie defeated Bastrop 3-2 in a shootout, sending the Bears to a 2-4-1 record for the first round of District 25-5A action.
The Bears opened the first half with a blistering hand over fist pace attacking the Bulldogs tooth in nail.
However, play quickly turned into a defensive struggle.
The Bears drove the ball down the pitch and into the Bulldog backline throughout the melee, but were never able to create any successful opportunities in front of the net, and ended up with only two shots on goal.
On the other hand, the Bulldogs harassed the Bastrop defense all night with 17 shots on goal.
Both teams entered their locker rooms at halftime with 0-0 glowing red on the scoreboard.
The second half opened with exciting play from Bastrop and Bowie, but was quickly mired again in no quarter, rugged, defensive midfield play.
The Bears and Bulldogs continued to gnaw and hound each other throughout the second half, but to the disappointment of the Bastrop faithful, the teams were still locked in a tie at the end of regulation.
With 80 minutes depleted and neither team able to find gold in the back of the net, the scuffle at Memorial stadium would be decided by an old fashioned gunslinger penalty-kick shootout, with Bowie standing tall in the end.
Head coach Robert Watson said the game was stressful to watch, yet a hard fought battle from start to finish, and would not daunt Bastrop’s chances in tight District 25-5A play.
Watson stressed that the Bears would get back to hard work in practice Thursday, and would focus on finishing games on the offensive and with an exclamation point to keep up their momentum.
Bastrop will have their work cut out for them when they face a talented Pflugerville squad Friday night at BISD Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.