The Andalusia Bulldogs, playing short-handed with 19 suspended players, trounced the Montgomery Catholic Knights, 41-21, at home Friday night.

Brayden Burkhardt found the end zone first for the Bulldogs on a 3-yard quarterback keeper on the Bulldogs’ second possession. The two-point conversion attempt was no good.

After forcing a punt from the Knights, the Bulldogs took over, but the drive stalled around the 20-yard line and the Bulldogs used the strong leg of Chase Hopkins to drill a 37-yard field goal to put them up 9-0 in the second quarter.

Burkhardt lost a fumble on Andalusia’s own 12-yard line on the Bulldogs’ next drive, setting the Knights up with a short distance to go. After two sacks and a holding call, the Knights were back at mid-field, but a costly roughing the passer penalty on third down put the Knights right back deep in Bulldog territory. Tray McCurdy capped off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. The extra-point attempt was no good, and the Bulldogs were up 9-6 at the half.

The Bulldogs kicked off to open the second half and Hopkins booted the ball to about the 4-yard line. A Knight player ran back into the end zone where he was brought down for a safety, giving the Bulldogs an 11-6 lead.

Following the safety, the Knights had to free kick to the Bulldogs. Devante Jackson corralled the kick, then burst straight up the middle of the field, going 65 yards for the touchdown, and extending the home team’s lead to 18-6.

The Bulldogs found themselves in great field position on their next possession when the Knights’ punter lost the ball inside his own 20. The Bulldogs needed only two plays to get into the end zone when Jamal Hourel plowed his way to a 13-yard touchdown run. The PAT was good, and Andalusia was up 25-6.

The Knights put together their best drive of the night the following series, going 80 yards on more than a dozen plays with Thomas Stokes getting the 5-yard touchdown run.

But the Bulldogs answered with an impressive drive of their own. James Montgomery capped off a 60-yard, 9-play drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to give the Bulldogs a 32-14 lead.

The Bulldogs added another safety when the Knights’ punter, with heels in the back of the end zone, let a low snap roll between his legs and out of the back of the end zone. The Knights’ misstep made it 34-14 for Andalusia.

Stokes added the final Knights’ touchdown on a 30-yard run to bring the Knights within 13 points at 34-21.

The Bulldogs went right back to the grind and scored on screen pass from Sim Bowden to Matthew Lilly. Lilly went 31-yards for the touchdown. The extra-point gave the Bulldogs a final score of 41-21.

Andalusia head coach Brian Seymore on Thursday suspended five players for last night’s entire game, and 14 additional ones for at least half of the game. The discipline resulted from an incident at Headland last week.

He had high praise for the players who stepped up.

“We made the decision prior to the game to not play any of the 19 suspended players for the entire game,” Seymore said. “I’m proud of the way the kids stepped up. We took control of the game and got a chance to play some young kids today.”

Seymore also said it’s now time to put last weekend’s incident behind them.

“We are all sinners and we all fall short of glory of God,” Seymore said. “I forgive these kids and am proud of the way they supported their teammates from the sideline. They made a mistake, now let’s just move forward.”

The Bulldogs (5-4) will face the Straughn Tigers (8-1) in a game with big playoff implications next Friday night for the regular season finale.