Hampton downs pesky Eagles, 49-11

Published 11:43 pm Thursday, October 25, 2018

The Hampton Bulldogs picked up their fifth win to close out the regular season at Cosby Thursday.

The Eagles, however, didn’t make it too easy.

Behind a combined 218 yards rushing from Hunter Workman (134 yards) and Eduardo Gonzalez (84 yards), the Eagles made things interesting in the first half. The Bulldogs, however, were able to pull things together to record a 49-11 victory.

“I thought they came out ready to play,” said Hampton head coach Michael Lunsford. “They (Cosby) weren’t going to lay down. Their coaches do a great job with them. Gonzalez is a heck of a ballplayer. No. 4 (Workman) is also a good ballplayer. He is quick and hard to tackle. They do a great job with them, and I thought they played hard.”

On the ground, the Bulldogs game centered around running back Lane Potter who rumbled for 155 yards on nine carries and a touchdown. Potter was backed up by teammate Macon Barden who rolled for 104 yards on seven carries and a touchdown.

“Macon is a kid that has worked his tail off,” said Lunsford. “He came in and was kind of an in-betweener. He wasn’t really a running back, and he wasn’t really a wide receiver. We have been trying to find a place that he fits. He is too good of an athlete not to be playing. We have worked him and worked him. He has really improved in seeing the field. He makes better cuts than he was.”

Potter got a little banged up part way through the game and had to come out and not retake the field. Lunsford said that it doesn’t seem too serious and that Potter should be back and healthy for the Bulldogs’ opening playoff game against Rockwood next Friday at J.C. Campbell Stadium.

“I thought it would be better just to rest him towards the end of the game there,” said Lunsford. “We had several other kids we wanted to get touches anyways. We just needed to rest him, because we have a big one coming next week.”

Hampton quarterback Alex Hardin finished the night going 7-of-11 for 77 yards and four touchdowns.

The Bulldogs struck first Thursday night as Barden took a 35-yard carry to the house on Hampton’s first drive of the night. The ‘Dogs, after forcing Eagles to go three-and-out, didn’t take long to get back in the end zone with Potter scurrying to paydirt on a 51-yard carry that was followed with Hampton’s Michael Harrison kicking through the point-after attempt. Hampton led 13-0 with 5:21 left in the first quarter.

Another defensive stop would allow the Bulldogs to score again with Hardin hitting Haden Birchfield who made easy work of an 11-yard touchdown catch.  Harrison booted through the kick, and the Bulldogs led 20-0 with 31.6 seconds to go in the first quarter.

The Eagles found some energy on the following drive as Workman ran the ball 65 yards up to the Bulldogs 5 on a quarterback keeper. Gonzalez powered the ball on in from there. On the following PAT attempt, Gonzalez, who was lined up to kick, picked up a bad snap before running the ball in for the 2-point conversion to cut into Hampton’s lead 20-8 early in the second quarter.

The Eagles defense forced Hampton to punt on the following possession which allowed Gonzalez to kick through a 30-yard field goal, inching Cosby within 20-11 of Hampton.

It would be all Hampton from that point on.

A Potter interception cut short an Eagles drive which in turn resulted in a 6-yard TD pass from Hardin to Birchfield to give the Bulldogs a 28-11 lead heading into the half.

The third quarter saw Hampton Matt Hughes pick up a Cosby fumble before Hardin hit Birchfield on a 20-yard TD pass. Hardin picked up his fourth TD pass of the night in the opening minutes of the fourth when he connected with Jonah Jones on a 15-yard toss to pace Hampton ahead 42-11.

The final touchdown, which was set up by an interception from Hampton’s Mitchell Tolley, came on a drive led by Hampton’s Conor Jones. In as quarterback Jones threw a 40-yard pass to Elijah Rhineheart before following up with a 34-yard QB keeper up to the Cosby 10. From there, Bulldogs Morgan Lyons ran in a 10-yard touchdown before Harrison kicked through another PAT for a 49-11 finishing tally.