Pike County held a strong Prattville Christian offense to just 14 points in a 21-14 win on Friday, earning the Bulldogs the Class 3A region 3 championship.

“It feels really good,” said Bulldogs head coach Fred Holland. “We faced a little adversity, but it feels good to come out with a win and I am proud of our guys for continuing to fight and do whatever they needed to do to win.”

When the offense sputtered early in the game, it was the Bulldogs defense that stepped up to stop the Panthers.

“I was proud of them,” Holland said. “They made a lot of stops. They let up a few pass plays early, but overall I thought they played decent. We made the stops we had to.”

The Panthers took the opening drive of the game 65 yards on 10 plays and scored on a 24-yard touchdown pass.

The Bulldogs (6-1, 5-0) got on the board on their first drive of the game when Jaidyn Wilson connected with TeKeven Thomas for a 50-yard touchdown pass. The big play of the drive came when Wilson scampered for 15 yards on third down. After the play was over 15 more yards was tacked on for a late hit out of bounds.

Each team had four more possessions in the opening half without scoring.

The Bulldogs scored on their first possession of the second half when Jhazarian Lampley ran the ball around the right side for a 47-yard touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 14-7 lead with 4:53 remaining in the third quarter. 

The Bulldogs looked to put the game out of reach midway through the fourth quarter, when Lampley capped off a seven play drive with a two-yard touchdown run.

The Panthers got the ball back trailing by 14 with 4:11 remaining and marched down the field in 10 plays, scoring on a three-yard run.

The Panthers attempted an on-side kick, but it was recovered by Juhmir Lampley. The Bulldogs ran out the clock and preserved their sixth win of the season.

“I am so proud of our kids for what they have done,” Holland said. “They have been able to maintain what they are doing. Prattville Christian did a really good job coming here tonight. They came here ready to play and I can’t take anything away from them. We did enough to win the game and that is what I am proud of,” Holland said.

Jahzarian Lampley led the way in rushing for the Bulldogs with a total of about 127 yards and two touchdowns. Wilson finished with 38 yards and also threw for a touchdown.

“We may have sputtered a little bit at the beginning,” Holland said. “We did what we had to do at the end and that’s score points. Every time we can score and stay ahead of our opponents then we are doing the right thing.”

The Bulldogs will be back in action next week when they take on Beulah for homecoming.

“We will come in on Sunday and look at some things,” Holland said. “We need be sharper. We still have a lot of work to do, but our guys are moving in the right direction.”