The Bulldogs dropped to 2-3 on the season and 1-2 in 5A Region 1 play after a 31-9 loss at Vigor on Friday night.. Vigor and Gulf Shores both remained undefeated and atop the Region Standings at the midpoint of the season. UMS-Wright joined a logjam of 6 Region 1 teams with 2 losses who will be competing for the final two playoff spots. The Bulldogs enter their bye week ahead of 3 consecutive home games against Region 1 opponents.
Region 1 Scores from 9/22
Vigor 31 - UMS-Wright 9
Citronelle 27 - Faith Academy 10
Gulf Shores 44 - Leflore 0
B. C. Rain 13 - Williamson 2
Elberta - BYE
Region 1 Standings
| TEAM |
RECORD |
| GULF SHORES |
4-0 |
| VIGOR |
4-0 |
| WILLIAMSON |
2-2 |
| FAITH ACADEMY |
2-2 |
| UMS-WRIGHT |
1-2 |
| ELBERTA |
1-2 |
| B. C. RAIN |
1-2 |
| CITRONELLE |
1-2 |
| LEFLORE |
0-4 |
Region 1 Schedule for 9/29
UMS-Wright, Vigor, Citronelle, Leflore - BYE
Gulf Shores at Murphy
Faith Academy at St. Paul's
Blount at Williamson
Northview (FL) at Elberta
Davidson at B. C. Rain
Game Recap
Vigor scored on their opening play, but the Bulldogs answered with their own first play touchdown to tie the game. Both teams would score again on their 2nd possession, but the Wolves found the end zone and the Bulldogs settled for a field goal to trail 12-9. Vigor would score once more before halftime to lead 18-9. The second half was all Vigor as they put two more scores on the board to pull away 31-9.
1st Quarter
Vigor received the opening kickoff and began their opening drive at their own 20 yard line. Carlos Benjamin ripped off an 80 yard touchdown run on their first play from scrimmage. After two Vigor penalties on their kickoff, the Bulldogs began their first possession near midfield at their own 42 yard line.
Joe Lott went 58 yards on the first play to tie the game at 6-6 (2-pt attempt failed).
Vigor's second possession started at their own 24 and had an impressive drive, picking up 5 first downs and finishing it off with a 1st and Goal touchdown run to take a 12-6 lead (2 point try no good).
UMS-Wright started at their own 29 yard line, and
Joe Lott connected with
Camden Taylor on a 16 yard completion to convert a 3rd & 14. Lott would hit Taylor again later in the drive, this time for 18 yards on a 3rd & 7 play. Lott completed his third pass of the drive to
Ty Yance for a 14 yard gain.
End 1st Quarter
UMS-W 6
Vigor 12
2nd Quarter
The Bulldogs drive continued into the 2nd quarter, and Lott converted a 4th & 1. A defensive pass interference in the end zone moved the ball to the Vigor 11 yard line, but the Bulldogs couldn't convert a 3rd & 5 as Lott's pass intended for
Denton Elliott was incomplete.
Kingston Phan made a 27 yard field goal to trim the lead to 12-9.
The teams traded turnovers as
Caplyn Reed recovered a fumble in Vigor territory, but on the Bulldogs first play Lott's pass was intercepted in the end zone for a Wolves touchback. The Bulldog defense forced a 3 & out, but a muffed punt gave Vigor the ball at the UMS-W 44 yard line.
McNeil Mostellar got in the backfield for a tackle that put Vigor behind the chains, but they were able to convert a 3rd & 11 when QB Jerrian Graham found Michael Laland. Facing a 4th and 4, Graham again came up with a big play on a 20 yard completion. Graham later hit Benjamin to move the ball to the 10-yard line, and Graham would punch it in from 1 yard out to put the Wolves up 18-9 (2 pt try failed).
Halftime
UMS-W 9
Vigor 18
3rd Quarter
Jake Jaye returned the second half kickoff out to midfield, but the offense went 3 & out and punted it back to Vigor.
The Wolves started at their own 18, and moved the ball across midfield.
Caplyn Reed had a TFL to force a 3rd & 13, but Dearrius Washington scored on a 37 yard touchdown run right up the middle of the Bulldog defense. The Bulldogs blocked the PAT and the score was 24-9.
Starting at their own 35, the Bulldogs picked up first down on an 11 yard
Joe Lott run, but punted after an incomplete pass on 3rd & 5. Vigor scored quickly on a 45 yard run from Benjamin to push their lead to 31-9.
The Bulldogs were 3 and out on their final possession of the quarter.
End 3rd Quarter
UMS-W 9
Vigor 31
4th Quarter
Neither team scored in the 4th quarter. The Bulldogs were 3 and out on both of their possessions, while the defense forced a Vigor 3 and out in between. Vigor ran out the clock to end the game.
Final
UMS-W 9
Vigor 31
Play of the Game
Trailing 6-0 just seconds into the game,
Joe Lott executed a zone read perfectly and raced 58 yards off the right end for a game tying touchdown early in the 1st quarter.
Team Totals
Total Plays
UMS-W 40
Vigor 60
Total Yards
UMS-W 164
Vigor 392
Rushing Yards
UMS-W 119
Vigor 334
Passing Yards
UMS-W 45
Vigor 58
First Downs
UMS-W 7
Vigor 16
Third Downs
UMS-W 2-10 (20%)
Vigor 6-14 (43%)
Turnovers
UMS-W 2
Vigor 1
Penalties
UMS-W 6 for 43 yards
Vigor 7 for 52 yards
Stat Leaders
Rushing
Joe Lott: 11 Carries - 68 yds (Long 57) - TD
Jake Jaye: 9 Carries - 32 yds
James Hollon: 5 Carries - 19 yds
Passing
Joe Lott: 5 for 13 - 45 yds
Receiving
Camden Taylor: 2 receptions - 32 yds
Ty Yance: 1 reception - 14 yds
Defense
Caplyn Reed: 13 tackles - TFL
Jeff Holston: 11 tackles
C.J. Stewart: 11 tackles
William Tanner: 10 tackles
McNeil Mostellar: 7 tackles - TFL
Luke Phillips: 7 tackles
Joe Lott &
Andrew Cook: 6 tackles
Special Teams
William Taylor: 30 yd punting average - Long 39
Kingston Phan: 1 for 1 Field Goals
From the Coaches
Coach Dean on the Offense:
Friday night we played a good Vigor team. We knew they were going to play their best game, and they played like we thought they would. We had some success early in the game, but were not able to finish the second half with the same success. Everything that we are doing is fixable, and we will get back to work during this off week. We will come back the second half of the season and hope to get the mistakes corrected and be more successful as we move forward.
Coach Koziol on the Defense:
Friday night we played an undefeated Vigor team who we knew would be big, fast and athletic at several key positions. Early in the game, we did not match their physicality or their intensity. We did things on defense that put us in a poor position to execute the call: misalignments, bad leverage, playing too high on the line of scrimmage and poor tackling on the perimeter.
There were a couple of drives where we needed to tighten our coverage on 3rd and 4th down situations to challenge their WRs, get off the field, and get the ball back to our offense. We gave up conversions for the offense, keeping us on the field and allowing touchdowns.
We will continue to challenge our players at practice to improve and get better. We will keep a positive attitude and work harder for the second half of the season.
Next Up:
The Bulldogs enter their BYE week before hosting Elberta on October 6th
