First blood went to the Belgreen Bulldogs on Friday night in what has the potential to be an intense inter-county rivalry series for many years to come. Belgreen (2-1) defeated Tharptown (0-3) 30-14 at Tharptown Stadium, disappointing the Wildcats on their homecoming night.
“It was a great atmosphere,” Belgreen head coach Jonathan Raper said. “It was (Tharptown’s) homecoming and there was a pep rally and all that stuff.
“Our kids were excited because that’s who our kids would consider our rival,” Raper added. “I was excited for them.
“They were looking forward to this game because they’ve played each other in different areas over the years and they see each other all the time, so they’re our biggest rival for right now since we’re not in a region. These county games will probably be our biggest ones.”
Before the start of the season, players on both sides expressed their excitement for the matchup, but only one team could leave with bragging rights after the series opener. Those will belong to Belgreen for at least a year, thanks to the Bulldogs’ ability to establish an effective running game, especially in the second half.
“The further on in the game we got the better we got at running the ball and I don’t think we hardly threw the ball at all, save two or three passes, in the second half,” Raper said. “We mostly ran the ball and that’s a big credit to our offensive line and those boys.”
All four Bulldog scores came on the ground with senior quarterback Landon Cox and running back Skyler Vickry rushing for two touchdowns each. Cox opened up the scoring on a short touchdown run in the first quarter to make it 6-0. That was followed up in the second quarter by a 22-yard touchdown scamper by Vickry to make it 14-0 after converting on the two-point try.
With less than two minutes to play before halftime the Wildcats scored for the first time this season on a six-yard touchdown run by sophomore Austin Chaney to cut Belgreen’s advantage down to 14-6; however, the visitors responded before the break with a lightning quick touchdown drive. A 72-yard passing play set up Cox for another short-yardage touchdown run, making it 22-6 at halftime.
Vickry would add his second touchdown in the fourth quarter, an 18-yard dash into the endzone to put the Bulldogs up 30-6 after the successful two-point conversion.
“Skyler ran the ball really well Friday night, and the longer the game went the more his speed made a difference,” Raper said. “Landon had two of the touchdown runs on some read plays, and he did a really good job of making the right reads and keeping the ball and running. He’s like another running back back there. He has to do a lot of read stuff and running the ball and I think he did a nice job of that.
“Both of them did a really nice job all night,” he added.
Tharptown tacked on another short rushing touchdown late in the fourth, but it was too little, too late for the Wildcats to make the comeback and the game ended with a final score of 30-14.
“I thought our offense, especially the linemen up front, did a really good job all night,” Raper said. “We gave up a few big plays (on defense) but we pretty much held them in check all night long. I think over the course of the night, the longer we went the better I thought our defense got.
“This was an important game for our kids and for our school and our community,” Raper added. “I don’t think we had a great week of practice until Thursday, but we went down there and did what we do best and we didn’t beat ourselves.”
Belgreen and Tharptown are both off next Friday with bye weeks. Belgreen will return to action on September 20th with a home game at Sparks Stadium against Tanner. Tharptown, too, will resume competition on September 20th when the Wildcats open up region play on the road at No. 8 Decatur Heritage.
