Morgan County’s defensive unit pitched its second shutout of the season and forced five turnovers as Class AAA’s No. 9 Bulldogs easily defeated region foe Salem 48-0 on Friday night.
Morgan County (6-1, 2-0 Region 4-AAA) held the Seminoles (1-6, 0-2) to just 107 yards of total offense. The Bulldogs also totaled three interceptions while forcing and recovering two fumbles in the win.
Morgan head coach Clint Jenkins said his players are starting to reap the benefits of their hard work.
“Anytime you come in anywhere, it takes some time for the kids to conceptually understand what you’re trying to do and I think they understand now what our defensive philosophy is,” Jenkins said. “Coach [David] Bethea and I talk about it with the kids all the time. We want them to think about what we’re thinking as far as coverages, blitzes, checks, and all these other things. We practice those things every day, especially checks that are built into our defense and then our checks for certain opponents. I just give our kids a lot of credit for Friday.”
The Bulldogs have one of the best scoring defenses in all of Class AAA, limiting opponents to 9.5 points per game through seven contests. They’ve only allowed 20-plus points in one game this year.
Jenkins compares this year’s Morgan County defense to his defensive unit at Dacula in 2019.
“The last time I had a team that was anywhere near giving up 10 points [per game] was in 2019 at Dacula, which was a semifinal team,” Jenkins said. “I’m proud of our kids. It’s really hard to hold teams down in that 10-point range. That’s huge and we’re tied for third in AAA in scoring defense. Anytime you’re in the top three in your class in terms of giving up points, that’s pretty good.”
Morgan’s defense was assertive on Friday night, establishing its dominance early. Senior inside linebacker Landen Vickers and senior defensive tackle Antavious Elder applied constant pressure all game.
Vickers was credited with six quarterback pressures and six tackles. His constant disruptiveness caused the Salem quarterback to make mistakes, leaving the Bulldogs secondary to feast all night.
The Seminoles made several costly turnovers early and Morgan jumped out to a 28-0 lead at the half.
Jenkins also said the offense had a slow start but opened things on its second drive of the game.
“We had to punt on the first drive, but then things got going,” Jenkins said. “Salem made some early mistakes and we took advantage of them offensively, which helped us gain a big lead.”
The Bulldogs racked up 356 yards of total offense, with 275 of it coming on the ground. They were led by Jayon Dorsey, who totaled 140 yards on 17 rush attempts with a pair of rushing scores.
Christian Monfort picked up 62 yards on 10 carries while scoring a touchdown, while Jordan Gordon added 40 yards on a score. Elder also totaled 20 yards and a touchdown on three rush attempts.
Overall, Jenkins explained how proud he was of his team for playing complimentary football.
“We played good in all three phases – offense, defense and special teams,” Jenkins said. “That’s hard to do, so we put together a pretty good night. Getting a shutout and five turnovers is hard as well.”