The Andalusia Bulldog defense held Alabama Christian Academy to only 152 total yards on offense to help lead their team to a 14-0 region victory Friday night at home.

And, AHS coach Brian Seymore said the defense was the key to the win Friday night as the Bulldogs improve to 1-0 in their region.

“Once again, we relied on our defense,” he said. “We put it on those guys, and they really stepped up. I am proud of them.”

In addition, Andalusia senior linebacker Johnnie Jones had a good night on defense, catching two interceptions. Andalusia’s Robert Woodall had one interception.

The Bulldogs scored both of their touchdowns in the first half on carries from Rafeal Sims and Adam Zelensky, respectively.

Seymore said getting those two touchdowns in the first half was a challenge.

“It was tough,” he said. “I’ve got to give credit to ACA, they put a lot of folks in the box, and they put out some different blitzes and I think they must have done a good job of tackling. They did a good job of hemming our backs up.”

Andalusia started the game on offense, but quickly had to punt the ball away.

But, Woodall’s interception came at the Eagles’ first offensive possession on their own 31-yard line with 6:49 left in the first quarter.

At the ACA 29 yard line, the Bulldogs took advantage of the sudden turn of events when in eight plays, and three first downs later, Sims rushed for a two-yard touchdown with 2:18 left in the first quarter.

The Bulldogs held ACA to a punt with less than a minute remaining in the first quarter.

Andalusia’s Derrick King, who rushed for 90 yards on 20 carries, managed to bob-and-weave through the Eagles’ defensive line to run the down the field 44 yards as time ran out in the first quarter.

On the Bulldogs’ first possession of the second quarter, Sims advanced the ball eight yards on the short three-down drive, and Zelensky finished it up with a 1-yard touchdown run with 10:15 left in the second quarter.

The extra point attempt by Courey Hopkins was good, and it gave Andalusia a clear 14-0 lead going into half time, as there weren’t any fireworks going off in the rest of the first half.

Sims rushed 16 yards on seven carries and scored one touchdown in the first half.

Zelensky was 1-for-1 for 20 yards. He rushed two times for minus-five yards and one touchdown.

The Bulldogs set the tone clearly at the start of the second half, when Andalusia’s defensive meter went sky high.

The Eagles switched between their running and passing games throughout the second half, handing the ball to play-maker Myles Mays and throwing the ball to Tony Derico.

Seymore said the key to stopping Mays was to make sure guys were “on the ball.”

“He’s a big, physical back,” he said. “You’ve got to get a lot of people at the ball. At times we did, and at times we didn’t do a good job of containing. At times he would make it to the edge and make plays.”

On a reverse pass play, Andalusia’s Johnnie Jones caught his first interception on second-and-10.

His second interception came with 4:52 left in the game.

Before Jones’ second interception, the Bulldogs held the Eagles to a three-and-out on defense, the clear winner in the game.

Andalusia’s Joseph Flowers then took over for King, and rushed 80 yards on 12 carries.

The Bulldogs improved to 2-0 overall, and 1-0 in Class 4A, Region 2. They will visit region opponent St. James next Friday night in Montgomery.

All in all, Seymore said it feels good to be right where his team is in the region.

“Two-and-oh is good, 1-0 in the rgion is good,” Seymore said. “I’m proud of our kids, and I’m proud of our coaching staff. Our defensive coaching staff did a great job (Friday night).”