Bulldogs open season with near-perfect game

The Harrisburg Bulldogs defense, offense and even special teams combined to dominate the Anna-Jonesboro Wildcats, 47-0, in the season opener Friday night on The Pit’s brand spanking new turf on the Anna-Jonesboro high school campus.

“I’m proud of our boys,” said Coach Matt Griffith. “We were establishing some new faces and guys playing new positions. We started really well, but we still have a lot of things to correct. Even though this game was where we expected to be. We were a well-balanced team tonight.”

The Bulldogs defense shut down the Anna-Jonesboro offense holding the young Wildcats to just four first downs — two in each half, 63 total yards, including just 21 yards rushing on 15 carries, and holding junior Dawson Nicholas to just seven completions in 17 attempts for 42 yards.

“Our defensive line and linebackers stopped the run and forced their quarterback to throw off his back foot,” Griffith said. “Senior Colt Prather at middle linebacker had a great game almost getting two interceptions. Defensive tackle Kane Land also had a good game rushing the quarterback. Outside linebacker Brody Nyberg came up with some big plays and safety Reed Rider ran the defense as its general.”

The Bulldogs offense ran and passed up and down the field led by Owen Rann, who competed 13 of 20 passes for 204 yards, including touchdown passes of 41 yards, 11 yards and 12 yards. The senior also ran for 26 yards, including picking up a first down on 4th-and-4 during the 80-yard drive to open the second half on an 11-yard keeper around right end to set up the touchdown two plays later.

“Rann as a senior quarterback put the ball on time using Rider and Aiden Unthank and all our different weapons we have,” Griffith said. “He established the tempo early and kept our foot on the gas.”

Unthank made Rann’s job a lot easier with nine catches from all over the field for 127 yards and two touchdowns. Last year, Unthank only had 12 catches for 262 yards and four touchdowns for the entire season.

The offense finished with 424 total yards and 24 first downs without a turnover and only 30 yards on four penalties.

Senior Brendan Hicks, who took over the running job from Karmello Downey and Travis Fann, who combined for 1,329 yards rushing and showed he will be more than capable of moving the chains and scoring touchdowns, finishing with 123 yards rushing on 15 carries and two touchdowns. Hicks didn’t have a carry last year.

“Hicks came out as our F-back and established our power run game,” Griffith said.

After Anna-Jonesboro won the toss and elected to receive the kickoff to open the game, the defense held the Wildcats to negative five yards and a punt. The Bulldogs took over at the A-J 43 and after an incomplete pass and an illegal procedure penalty Rann was facing a 2nd-and-15.

Hicks gained eight yards and Rider one yard to set up a 4th-and-8 from the 41. Rann and Nash Vallette connected on a beautiful touchdown down the right side to get the party the started. A low snap didn’t allow sophomore Burke Wilson to get off a kick, so the Bulldogs led 6-0 with 8:41 left in the first quarter.

The defense once again forced a punt on a three-and-out that gained no yards. Rann took over on the Bulldogs 33 and led a 13 play, 67-yard drive that ate up 6:09 off the clock and finished with a Rider four-yard rushing touchdown and a two-point rushing conversion to up the lead to 14-0 on the first play of the second quarter. The top play of the drive was a 25-yard completion to Unthank.

A-J finally got its offense untracked and drove from its own 26 to the Harrisburg 44. Facing 3rd-and-7 the Bulldogs defense stiffened forcing an incompletion and stuffing Nicholas for just one yard on fourth down.

The Bulldogs immediate drove the 43 yards on six plays with back-to-back 17-yard and 23-yard hookups with Unthank followed by a Rann 11-yard scramble. Rann and Unthank connected again for an 11-yard touchdown pass. But another low snap resulted in Wilson’s point after being blocked leaving the score with 6:47 left in the half.

After another three-and-out by the defense, the Bulldogs took over at the A-J 45 and six plays later Hicks gained 19 yards and scored on a five-yard touchdown. This time the snap was good and Wilson split the uprights to up the lead to 27-0 with 1:50 left before halftime.

The defense forced another three-and-out giving the ball back to Rann and the offense at the A-J 41. Four plays later with the help of a 15-yard personal foul penalty the Bulldogs were at the one. But after a four-yard loss on a play up the middle Rann scrambled to the left and ended inches short of the end zone as the buzzer sounded.

The Bulldogs defense was almost perfect holding the Wildcats to just 17 yards on 22 plays over five offensive series forcing four punts and one fourth down stop in the first half.

The Bulldogs took the opening kickoff of the second and drove 80 yards on 13 plays that included a 17-yard run by Rider, a 15-yard run by Hicks and a 16-yard completion to Rider. The drive ended with a Hicks five-yard touchdown run and a Wilson point after to up the lead to 34-0 with 7:29 left in the third quarter.

The defense again forced a three-and-out for no yards setting up Rann at the A-J 43. Four plays later Rann and Unthank connected again for a 12-yard touchdown pass. Wilson was perfect and the Bulldogs led 41-0 with 4:56 left in the third quarter triggering the continuous clock.

The defense held the Wildcats to five plays and 14 yards that included a first down and took over at the A-J 41 with 1:07 remaining in the third.

The reserves took over with two sophomores quarterback Ian Crabb and running back Aiden Hankins and junior Brody Nyberg taking over in the backfield. Twelve plays later, including eight rushes by Nyberg for 40 yards, Nyberg scored a touchdown from the two-yard line. The coaching staff decided to take a knee on the extra point to leave the score at 47-0.

“I’m very proud of our sophomores Vallette and Hankins showing they could step in and replace Mello, Tevin Godsey and Jack Ford, so we can continue to run our offense,” Griffith said.

On A-J’s final possession the defense also with reserves held the Wildcats to just 10 yards on four plays in the final 3:40 to preserve the shutout. Last year the Bulldogs’ defense shut out three teams in a row after starting the season with a 39-14 win over Anna-Jonesboro and a 42-38 loss to Du Quoin.

Harrisburg will travel to Du Quoin for a 7 p.m. Friday night game this week. The Indians opened at home against Sparta and blew a 22-0 second quarter lead to eventually lose, 35-29, after Du Quoin still led 22-14 at the half and 29-22 in the third quarter, but the Bulldogs scored to tie the score, 29-29, heading into the fourth quarter.

Since 2004 the Indians lead the series 10-8 with Du Quoin having won four of the last five. The Bulldogs are 4-5 at Du Quoin over that span. The last time Harrisburg won was 2022 at Du Quoin, 25-14, in Griffith’s second year at the helm. The teams didn’t play each other in 2021 and 2020.

“Du Quoin graduated some of their skill players, but bring back a lot of guys,” Griffith said. “They are well coached and will have a run game and pass game to complement each other. It’s a tough place to play, so we have to prepare for a hard game.”