By Devin Smith

BRUNDIDGE – The Bulldogs didn’t miss a beat as they dominated the Barbour County Jaguars 54-0 in a home region game.

Head coach Fred Holland expected nothing less from his team despite the down time last week and was happy with how his team prepared and performed in Friday’s game.

“I think we had a real good week of practice,” Holland said. “We knew we were back into region play again this week, and we’re always trying to get another region win under our belt. We were able to do that tonight. There were a lot of positive things that happened for us tonight, offensively and defensively.”

From the opening whistle Pike County took the fight to the Jaguars and never let off of the gas on either side of the ball.

After intercepting the Jaguars first pass of the game the Bulldogs ran the ball down the field before capping off the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run from Deshon Cowling.

The recurring theme of the first half became turnovers for the Jaguars followed by touchdowns from the Bulldogs. Holland said he was proud of the way his team had flown to the fumbles.

“We were very confident that our guys knew some of the things they were doing,” Holland said. “We were just in position to make some plays with fumbles and interceptions, and that’s what you try to do. You want to win the turnover battle, and I think we did a great job of that tonight.”

Generally after forcing a turnover, Pike County continued running the ball straight through Barbour County’s defense.

The Bulldogs only had three passing plays during Friday’s game and two of them led to touchdown passes from Jerrell Lawseon to Cory Batie, one for 47 yards and another for 49 yards.

The overpowering rushing attack of Pike County can be credited for setting up the big plays through the air, which was something Holland planed on using early and often this week.

“We went into the game expecting to run the ball,” Holland said. “We saw some teams do some things against them, and once you get the running game going it can help out the passing game like it did tonight. It was just a great job by the guys executing some of the things that we work on in practice.”

By halftime the Bulldogs had secured the victory with a 48-0 lead they built by finding the end zone on all seven possessions in the first 24 minutes of play. Holland said the confidence the team would carry from Friday’s win would be key going into the remaining region games.

“It gives the guys a lot of confidence going into region play,” Holland said.

“Not only being able to put up points, but also not having to deal with the stress of having to fight back. It give the team more confidence in situations where they know they have to score some points, and hopefully it can be an opportunity for us to see some of the things we did that can help us when we get into games like that.”

Although the Bulldogs played well and came out with a win, Holland said there were still some things the team could better.

“There are always some negatives,” Holland said. “The guys will tell you that in film study I don’t hold back. It’s not like we don’t have a lot to work on, believe me they know we do. I have a draft sheet for Sunday, and it’ll be thick. We try to build on things each week and the more knowledge you can gain the better it is when you get into tough games.”

The Bulldogs are currently 4-1 for the season and 2-1 for their region. The Bulldogs will travel to Newton to face the Wicksburg High School Panthers in a region game. The Panthers are currently 3-4 for the season and 1-3 for the region. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.