MYRTLE POINT — Homecoming started great for Myrtle Point.

The Bobcat defense shut down Coquille’s offense on its first possession and then Nic Canaday ran around the end for 34 yards on Myrtle Point’s first offensive play. Three downs later Brandon Lloyd burst through the middle of the line for a 15-yard score. And to top it off, Coquille fumbled the kickoff and the Bobcats recovered.

Even though Coquille’s defense stiffened and the offense stalled, Myrtle Point continued to stop the Red Devils, forcing three punts and then getting an interception by Kyle Davis to end Coquille’s fifth possession.

Then the tide shifted on a couple of big runs by Coquille speedster Joe Harris, and the Red Devils stymied the Bobcats throughout the second half, pulling away for a 25-6 victory.

Asked for a simple assessment of the game, Myrtle Point head coach Brad Henshaw responded: “Too much Joe Harris.”

Harris was a one-man wrecking crew when he got outside, rushing for 207 yards on 15 carries — the rest of the team had just 6 yards on 21 attempts. But it was the defense and special teams that had Coquille excited after the game.

“We just stepped it up,” Harris said of his team shutting out the Bobcats for the final 44 minutes of the game. “We started slow, but our defense picked it up and slowed their offense.”

“We played smart and calm today,” added teammate Ryan Dannels, who has provided a big boost for the squad this fall while splitting time with his first love, soccer.

After driving 50 yards for a touchdown on its opening possession, the Bobcats managed just 133 yards the rest of the night.

“The defense has really showed up the last couple weeks,” said Coquille coach David Thomason.

Myrtle Point started two possessions in Coquille territory in the first half, and crossed the 50 three other times in the game, but never came close to the goal line.

“We came out sharp,” Henshaw said. “We didn’t take advantage of the field position when we had them pinned deep.

“Offensively, we’d get a first down or two and then stall.”

Still, Myrtle Point led 6-0 when Davis intercepted a pass by Heston Altenbach at Myrtle Point’s 26-yard line early in the second quarter.

But the Bobcats fumbled on the next play and Josh Duke, who had fumbled earlier on a kickoff return, redeemed himself by recovering for the Red Devils on the sideline just before the ball could squirt out of bounds.

Myrtle Point appeared to have the Red Devils stopped, but a penalty gave Coquille a first down and then Harris took a handoff up the middle and squirted out to the left and sprinted to the end zone. The extra-point kick by Dannels gave Coquille the lead for good.

The big momentum buster came late in the first half, when Coquille was pinned inside the 10 after a punt by Davis.

On a second-and-eight play from the 6-yard line, Altenbach took the snap and pitched to Harris, who got free around the left end with the help of a big block from a receiver and sprinted down the sideline 94 yards for a touchdown.

“Our line did great,” Harris said. “Everybody held their blocks.”

Thomason has repeatedly preached to his offensive line that the team could have many Joe Harrises, but if the line doesn’t block it wouldn’t do any good.

“It’s one of the things about Joe — we can count on him for big plays,” Thomason said, transferring praise also to the line. “We had good blocking up front and good blocking on the ends.”

In the second half, Dannels and Harris came up with key special teams plays to secure the win.

A Coquille drive stalled inside Myrtle Point’s 10-yard line early in the fourth quarter, but Dannels booted a 24-yard field goal to stretch Coquille’s lead to 11 points, meaning the Bobcats would have needed two touchdowns to win.

“That was big,” Harris said. “It’s nice having a kid who can kick.”

On the ensuing kickoff, Myrtle Point’s Dallas Wilson broke into the clear, but Dannels ran him down from behind to save a touchdown.

Dannels played football in Arizona, where soccer is a spring sport, as a freshman and sophomore before moving to Coquille last year, and has fit in while practicing 60 to 90 minutes with the football team before soccer workouts to the point that he starts at both receiver and cornerback for the Red Devils.

After his touchdown-saving tackle, he intercepted a third-down pass by Davis at Coquille’s 4-yard line to preserve the lead.

Harris then clinched the win by booming a 64-yard punt from the back of the end zone after the Bobcats stopped Coquille’s drive and running 43 yards for a score on another sweep in the final minutes.

Thomas was thrilled with the special teams work by Dannels and Harris, who had several other big punts, as well as the line protecting them.

“Our special teams have been good all year long,” he said. “We put a lot of emphasis on that from daily doubles at the start of the year.”

The win kept Coquille’s playoff hopes alive, though the Red Devils still need help after Glide dismantled Rogue River on Friday.

Coquille needs to win out against Bandon next week and Rogue River in the finale and needs Glide, which beat the Red Devils to open league play, to lose to Myrtle Point next week and Bandon the following week.

Myrtle Point, like Coquille 2-3 in league play, has a tougher road because the Bobcats still have to play top-ranked Cascade Christian, and likely would need an upset in that game to reach the playoffs.

During halftime ceremonies Friday, Shirah Stidham and exchange student Stefan Cvetkovic were crowned homecoming queen and king for the Bobcats.