Pulling away from Cleveland, Dawgs’ 4-0 mark leads region
BEARDEN — From the time Tory Beaufort set sail on an 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, Bearden swung the momentum for good against a Cleveland team jumping out to a 15-7 lead late in the first quarter of a showdown of Region 2-6A unbeatens on BHS Homecoming Night at Bill Young Field.
Dominating both lines of scrimmage, for the most part, during the game’s final three quarters, while sophomore running back Jayzon Thompson did his thing with quick bursts through holes and breaking tackles when holes were filled (159 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries), the Dawgs (5-2 overall, 4-0 in region) won 38-21 Friday, Oct. 6.
Reminding his red-hot football team it had secured a first-round Class 6A state tournament home game during his postgame address, head coach Josh Jones pointed out one special defender who made lots of stops.
Though saying it was tough preparing for Cleveland’s offensive speed and hurry-up attack, linebacker Kai Ironside “played his guts out,” Jones said. as the junior had 13 tackles, including two for minus yardage and one sack.
“They’re a really fast offense,” Ironside said. “... I feel like we got focused in the second half and got to playing our regular defense — and you saw what happened.
“Our defense in the second half, we stepped up — the coach got on us, and we had to play our ballgame,” sophomore linebacker Rocky Brown said.
In addition, senior defensive back Sam Tummins killed one drive by the Blue Raiders (5-2, 1-1) by intercepting a long pass in the second quarter.
A blocked punt late in the first half, which was returned by Bulldogs sophomore Liam Power 10 yards to the CHS 3, set up a Thompson TD run in the final seconds before the break, giving the Bulldogs a 24-15 halftime advantage.
Thompson and junior Torrian Riggans led Bearden touchdown drives on the Dawgs’ first two possessions of the third frame. Beaufort’s 8-yard end-around run for a TD made it 31-15 with 6:09 to go in the third. Thompson answered a Cleveland TD drive by scoring from 2 yards out with 10:27 left in the game.
“Holy cow, what about our O-line,” Jones said. “Their defensive line is massive, and for those guys to come out and push them around and be able to run the ball the way we did, they really bought in to what we (as coaches) were saying.”
Speaking for his offensive line, “we’ve been working hard, and when that hard work pays off it’s surely something that we love taking pride in and something we love doing game after game,” said BHS junior offensive lineman Isaiah Harvey, who played left guard against Cleveland.
About Thompson, Riggans and the running skills of junior quarterback Drew Parrett, “They make our job a lot easier,” Harvey said.
Junior kicker Daniel Kinney nailed a 32-yard field goal and all five of his extra-point tries.
