Bulldogs take in on the chin from the Eagles

ECI took the short trip to Millen Friday to take on the seventh ranked Eagles from Jenkins Co.

Jenkins won the neighborhood bash against the Bulldogs 28-7. The Eagles gave the Bulldogs a few chances to put more points on the board with 4 turnovers, a fumble, an interception and two muffed kicks on special teams. But the Eagle defense and a special team touchdown kept the Bulldogs out of the end zone. “Very proud of the fight out kids played with, it was a very physical game,” commented Chris Kearson. “Turnovers negated each other for both teams but the difference for us defensively was the couple of big plays we gave up.”

The Bulldogs got the first Eagle mistake on a fumble at the Jenkins Co. 26-yard line. The drive stalled on the Eagle 9-yard line setting up a Matthews’ field goal try and getting an early lead. Jenkins blocked the FG try and scooped the ball up taking it back 91-yards to put the Eagles up 6-0. The Bulldogs ran 23 plays to the Eagles’ just 3 plays in the first quarter but found themselves down 6-0.

Jenkins gave the Bulldogs another short field on a muffed punt fumble at their own 13. ECI took advantage of the Eagles mistake this time, scoring on a Hudson Henry one yard plunge to put the Bulldogs up 7-6 early in the second quarter. The Eagles added another touchdown and two-point conversion in the second quarter to put the Bulldogs down 14-7 at the half. Jenkins Co. put 7 on the scoreboard in the third and fourth quarters to win the game 28-7.

In a rare occurrence, the Bulldogs had more passing yards than rushing in the game. Jackson Kennedy was 7-17 spreading the ball around to seven different receivers. The Bulldogs have sewn up the third seed from region three in the state playoffs and will be on the road to play the winner of the Charlton Co. vs Lanier Co. game taking place Friday.

The Bulldogs will play their last regular season game this Friday when they host Montgomery Co.

In other strange happenings around the region, Jenkins Co. and Portal will play for the region championship Friday in Portal.