B.C. Rain breaks hearts of Bulldog fans

Published 2:15 am Saturday, September 6, 2008

MOBILE – The Andalusia Bulldogs (0-2, 0-1 in Class 4A, Region 1) almost came away with a victory Friday night over B.C. Rain in Mobile, but the Red Raiders pulled it out, 20-15.

The Raiders scored their final touchdown for the night on a pass to make it 20-15 with 1:06 left in the game.

B.C. Rain led 14-0 by the end of the first quarter, but in the second quarter, Andalusia’s Brent Shiver threw a completed pass to running back C.J. Richardson for a 37-yard touchdown.

Richardson finished off the scoring drive with a two-point conversion to make it 14-8 with 5:43 left in the first half.

From that point forward, the Bulldog defense stepped up to the plate and knocked around some Red Raiders.

Sophomore Johnnie Jones found an opening with 3:34 left in the first half to sack B.C. Rain’s quarterback and forcing B.C. Rain to turn the ball over on downs.

Andalusia got possession of the ball, but could not move the ball down field. B.C. Rain took over with under three minutes in the first half, but penalties delayed their goal of scoring before halftime.

Andalusia’s defense also stepped up in an effort to bring the Raiders to a fourth down.

Keontae Freeney prevented a pass to make it fourth down for the Raiders and with 45 seconds left in the first half, Andalusia took over on downs. The Bulldogs tried for a field goal, but the attempt was blocked by B.C. Rain.

At the half, Andalusia trailed 14-8. At the start of the third quarter, the Bulldogs came out and stopped the Raiders while on defense.

Andalusia took over on downs and Shiver connected with Leslie James for a 58-yard touchdown pass to put the Bulldogs ahead 15-14 after the extra point.

The Bulldogs’ defense held the team through late in the fourth quarter.

With 4:17 left on the clock, senior linebacker Nico Johnson intercepted the ball to give Andalusia another chance at a touchdown.

The Bulldogs tried to get into the end zone, but B.C. Rain held them on downs and took over on the way to the winning touchdown.

Bulldogs head coach Brian Seymore said the team made a lot of mistakes during the game.

“We made mistakes and had a mental breakdown with one play away here and there,” Seymore said.

Seymore added the defense did play well and kept the Bulldogs in the game.

“The defense gave us a chance to win and they played solid all night,” he said. “They made a couple of breakdowns on defense, but we got to show up and we’ve got to look for a little bit of heart.”

This week at practice, Seymore said there was one thing that the team will be working toward.

“Being a team,” he said.

The Bulldogs will host W.S. Neal next Friday with kickoff set for 7 p.m.