Bulldogs dominate Homecoming game

Friday night at Taylor Field was Homecoming, but with winds up to 40 miles per hour and a constant rain coming down all the hoopla had to be limited before, during and after the game. However, on the turf the Harrisburg football team was ready, willing and able to take of business, beating Massac County, 62-7, to open the Bulldogs' SIRR Ohio Division schedule.

“We came out there in terrible conditions for a football game, but we took care of business,” said Harrisburg coach Matt Griffith. “We were able to run the football very well showing the power of our run game.”

Harrisburg improved to 4-1 on the season and is tied with Murphysboro (2-0) and Carterville (1-0) for the conference lead with its 1-0 conference record.

“Going into our big stretch with Carterville and Murphysboro the next two weeks, we have to continue to run well like we have the past two weeks, but now our pass game needs to be a big contributor. We have to put all of that together to be successful,” Griffith said.

This week Carterville (3-2) comes to town Friday night at 7 p.m. for a conference battle with a share of the conference lead on the line. The Lions are coming off a 26-20 non-conference loss to St. Joseph-Ogden. Murphysboro (4-1) will play a non-conference game at Carbondale Friday night.

“The next two weeks is going to decide who wins the conference,” Griffith said. “We had a test early against Du Quoin and didn’t play well. Since then we’ve shored up our defense and our special teams. We are much more clicking on all cylinders now and ready for the real test. This week is where it starts. Carterville graduated a lot of talent from last year, but they are still athletic. Last year they were very much a screen game and taking deep shots, but this year they’ve moved their slot receiver to quarterback and rely more on the run game.”

Harrisburg dominated Massac County on both sides of the ball. Offensively, the Bulldogs finished with 340 total yards on 28 plays — all on the ground — with game being under the running clock for the entire second half.

The varsity starters played only the first half, with Brendan Hicks the leading rusher with 125 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries. Reed Rider scored three touchdowns and finished with 52 yards rushing on six carries, and receiver Aiden Unthank scored one touchdown and finished with 18 yards rushing on three carries.

Defensively, the Bulldogs held the Patriots to one yard on 27 plays on six of their seven first half possessions. However, on its fifth possession of the first quarter facing 4th-and-11 on its own 19, Patriot quarterback Kamren Fairfield threw a pass down the right sideline that Nash Vallette had played perfectly, but the ball went through his hands and bounced off his helmet into the hands of Kristopher Garnett, who raced untouched down the sideline for an 81-yard touchdown.

On Massac’s opening drive of the game Harrisburg took advantage of the Patriots deciding to go for a first down on 4th-and 8 from their own 24 instead of punting into the wind. The Bulldogs defense stuffed the Patriots, leading ball carrier Josh Gilbert for a two-yard loss and setting up the offense at the Patriot 22.

Two plays later Unthank scored from the 18 on an end-around. Brendan Hicks ran in the two-point conversion and Harrisburg took the lead, 8-0, 3:08 into the game.

After the kickoff, facing 2nd-and-15, defensive end Dathan Case recovered a fumble at the Patriots' five. Reed Rider scored on the first play and ran in the two-point conversion to up the lead to 16-0 with 7:47 left in the first quarter.

On their next possession, the Patriots again went for the first down on 4th-and-1 at their own 22 instead of punting, but a bad snap resulted in a 10-yard loss. Two plays later Hicks scored from the 12 and ran in the two-point conversion to up the lead to 24-0 with 4:24 left in the opening quarter.

Rider intercepted Fairfield on 3rd-and-25 from the Patriots 38 setting up the offense at the Massac 48. After the drive got off to a bad start with two consecutive five-yard penalties, Hicks broke off left tackle for a 58-yard touchdown run. Unthank ran in the two-point conversion to give Harrisburg a 32-0 lead with 2:20 left in the quarter.

After Massac County scored with 27 seconds left in the first quarter on the tip pass, the Patriots tried an on-side kick, but Gavin Wayman recovered the kick setting up the offense at the Massac 48. Six plays later Rider scored from the 12.

This time on the two-point conversion quarterback Owen Rann tried his only pass of the game, but Massac was called for pass interference setting up the ball at the one where Rider ran it in to up the lead to 40-7 with 9:13 left in the half.

After stopping the Patriots on downs, the Bulldogs drove 46 yards on six plays with Rider scoring on a six-yard run with 2:06 remaining. Hicks ran in the two-point conversion to give the Bulldogs a 48-7 lead at the half.

The reserves played the second half and took up where the starters left off. After giving up the ball on a fumble on their first series, sophomore quarterback Ian Crabb led a 56-yard drive on four plays with Aiden Hankins carrying the ball on three times gaining 30 yards up the middle on 3rd-and-1 to set up his 17-yard touchdown run on the next play with four seconds left in the third quarter to up the lead 54-7.

After the Patriots fumbled the snap and the ball went out the back of the end zone to give the Bulldogs a two-point safety, Crabb led another four-play drive that started at the 50 and ended with Isaia Robinson scoring on a 33-yard run around right end with 4:36 remaining for the final margin.

Hankins finished as the second leading rusher with 85 yards on five carries with Robinson adding 34 yards on three carries and Braylen Johnson 27 yards on one carry.

The second string defense faced four Massac possessions holding the Patriots to negative 53 yards on 10 plays resulting in two interceptions by Vallette and Brody Nyberg and the safety. The last possession gained two yards when the game ended.

“The second string guys and JV were able to get in there for the second week in a row and gets some good reps to give us some idea of who we can play when we need them,” Griffith said. “Hankins is one of those guys. He’s backing up Reed Rider and Brendan Hicks. We have some big games coming up and where we need to give them a break Hankins is going to get some real good looks.”