Bulldogs lose game at home against Thomasville 21-6

Published 1:35 am Saturday, October 4, 2008

The Andalusia Bulldogs (1-5, 1-3 in Class 4A, Region 1) put up a fight Friday night against the Thomasville Tigers (4-2, 3-1) but came up short falling 21-6.

“I’m proud of our kids,” Andalusia coach Brian Seymore said. “We had two busted plays in the first half and we had a missed alignment and they scored on a long pass play. I thought we executed our plan, but turnovers did hurt a little bit here and there. That’s what has been happening to us, but we’ve got to get past that and I was very happy with our kids’ effort. They played their hearts out (Friday night).”

The Bulldogs started the game with the ball and moved up the field to the 31-yard line where senior kicker Gillis Jones put the ball through the uprights with 5:17 left in the first quarter to make it 3-0.

The Tigers and Bulldogs could not move the ball on their next possessions, but early in the second quarter, the Tigers scored on a 68-yard touchdown pass by senior quarterback Alex Buford to junior tailback Tevin Pope to make the score 7-3 with 11:35 left in the second.

On their next possession, the Bulldogs got to a fourth-and-12 play, but faked the punt to pass to senior linebacker Nico Johnson for 13 yards.

Johnson came in to aid the Bulldogs yet again by blocking a punt, which was quickly scooped up by senior Leslie James.

The Bulldogs kicked another field goal with 3:16 left in the first half to make the score a close 7-6.

Seymore said the team overcame some obstacles with the number of players out due to injury.

“We had a great week at practice and they overcame a lot of diversity because we had a couple of players out,” Seymore said. “Brent played with a separated shoulder and we couldn’t throw the ball. He persevered through it and played like a champ. He got us in the right situation and I thought our kids played extremely hard on offense. We are just one break away from making something happen.

“I just want to thank our coaching staff and our community for coming out and supporting us and we’ve got to continue to get better,” he said.

With zero seconds left in the first half, the Tigers took command of the game with a 42-yard touchdown pass by Buford to senior wide receiver Shaquille Jackson to make it 14-6.

The Tigers fumbled the ball on their next possession and Johnnie Jones recovered the ball with 7:49 left in the third.

Thomasville’s final touchdown for the night came in the fourth quarter with 4:34 left on the clock. Junior Mitchell Cowan ran for a 35-yard touchdown run to make it 21-6.

Andalusia was 2-of-3 for 24 yards in passing and had 23 carries for 52 yards in the first half. In the second half, the Bulldogs were 6-of-13 for 70 yards and carried seven times for 12 yards for a total of 278 yards.