defense roughs up Rebels

By Kevin Pearcey

The Brantley defense turned in a three-touchdown performance as the Bulldogs rolled over Zion Chapel on Friday night, 39-7.

"We played real well on defense," said Brantley coach David Lowery. "Having three touchdowns on defense is certainly unusual. Of course we played a lot of kids in the second half, but the first-team defense played well."

The three defensive touchdowns all came in the first half. Zion Chapel finally cracked the scoreboard with a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Justin Wright returned an interception 32 yards for Brantley and teammate Jeffery Daniels added a 55-yard interception return for a score. Junior James Pittman added a 35-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.

Lowery said Brantley's offense took over in the second half. Pittman, playing running back, had a 31-yard touchdown run and tailback Chris Booker scored on runs of 2 and 60 yards.

Lowery said his team has now turned its attention to the Ariton Purple Cats. The Bulldogs are searching for their third straight region victory against a team that was beaten by Florala 34-14 last week.

But scores, said Lowery, can be deceiving.

"Ariton's a good a football team," he said. "They had seven turnovers against Florala that hurt them. I don't think we'll be that lucky. They may be a little short on depth, but their first bunch is pretty solid."

This year's meeting between Ariton and Brantley will be earlier then last season when Hurricane Ivan forced the game's postponement until week nine. Both teams were unbeaten at that point, but Brantley claimed the regional crown with a 14-0 victory on the road. Then-junior quarterback Edgar Walker hit wide receiver Antwuan Foster for a 42-yard touchdown and Daniels bulled his way for a 3-yard score.

Lowery said his team has moved past the disappointment of an opening season loss to Elba.

"We know we have some good teams still to play in front of us, but we're more concerned with ourselves and how we play," said Lowery.

Kickoff in Brantley against Ariton is at 7 p.m.