Morgan County prevailed after a few early mistakes to defeat Hephzibah 35-6 on Friday night.
The Bulldogs (7-1, 3-0 Region 4-AAA) were hoping to cruise into halftime with a 14-0 lead, but a few costly mistakes by the defense gave the Rebels (5-3, 1-3) some life with a late score.
Morgan’s defense sacked Hephzibah’s quarterback, but a taunting penalty moved the chains and extended the Rebels’ drive. The Bulldogs then tried to make a goal-line stand, holding Hephzibah for the first three plays; however, they gave up a touchdown on fourth down.
“We kind of went backward to what we’ve done the past couple of years as far as making some really, really [bad] mistakes and penalties on that drive,” Morgan County head coach Clint Jenkins said. “Luckily, they got a bad snap, and we ran them down, stopping them from getting two.”
Morgan County’s lead was cut to 14-6 at halftime, but the Rebels had the momentum. Either way, the Bulldogs won the toss and deferred to the second half, giving them the ball to start the third quarter.
At the half, Jenkins and the Morgan staff warned their players of a potential onside kick to start the third quarter – and that happened – but the Bulldogs were able to recover the ball in Rebels’ territory.
“I think [their kicker] missed the ball completely. He wasn’t lined up for it, but we had just warned our players about how it was a great time for an onside kick,” Jenkins said. “They had grabbed the momentum right before the half, but it was just a mental mistake on special teams. From there, I want to credit our kids because we rectified every mistake we made in the first half.”
Morgan rolled in the second half, scoring 21 unanswered points en route to its sixth-straight victory.
The Bulldogs relied on their ground game to keep the clock moving with running backs Jaydon Dorsey and Christian Monfort. Dorsey totaled 143 yards on 22 carries with two rushing scores in the win. Montfort was also productive, rushing for 43 yards on seven attempts, averaging 6.1 yards per carry.
Weather conditions were rough, so Morgan’s offense didn’t pass the ball much, but senior quarterback Talan Fuller completed 5-of-7 passes for 40 yards and a touchdown. Drew Ainslie caught the game’s only passing touchdown, while Antavious Elder hauled in two receptions for 27 yards.
Defensively, the Bulldogs shut down Hephzibah senior running back Telly Johnson, who’s on pace for 1,000 yards this year. They also held the Rebels’ offense to a season-low six points. Senior defensive back Zach Moore also had a pick-six late in the game to add insult to injury.
“I’m proud of our kids because the score didn’t indicate some of the adversity we had faced,” Jenkins said. “I think we did a good job of finishing them off in the second half. We’ll keep working.”
Morgan enters its bye week tied for first place with Harlem in the region standings. The Bulldogs will face Cross Creek (Oct. 27) in Madison for Senior Night before playing Harlem on the road (Nov. 3).
The Bulldogs will use their second bye week to rest, watch film, and get players healthy before the last two regular season games. This week, they’ll also prepare for Cross Creek and Harlem in limited practice time.
“We’ve already looked at some film and we’ll watch more later in the week,” Jenkins said. “We won’t practice Monday, but we will practice Tuesday through Thursday. That way they get Monday as a film day and Friday as an off day. We’re a little beat up and this is a good time to have a bye. It will give us a chance to hopefully get a few guys healthy and a head start on Cross Creek.”