Hampton takes a bite out of Blue Devils, 32-13
Published 1:35 am Saturday, August 31, 2019
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Bulldogs answered Unicoi’s opening touchdown drive with one of their own as Caleb Oaks (32) evens the score on this half yard touchdown run through the heart of the Blue Devils defense.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Bulldog defender R D Ward (57) and Caleb McKinney (59) stuff Unicoi’s Diego Diaz (19) in the backfield for a three yard loss on the final play of the first half.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Hampton’s Isaiah Greenwell (1) has his legs cut out from under him by the Blue Devils Jacob Schreck (11) but not before he makes a first down to keep a late second quarter drive alive.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Bulldogs Gage Chambers (16), sandwiched between Unicoi’s Robbie O’Dell (7) and Tanner VanHoy, comes down with a great catch along the Blue Devils sideline for a first down in the second quarter.
BY NIC MILLER
STAR CORRESPONDENT
ERWIN- After suffering a tough loss last week at Gatlinburg Pittman, the Hampton Bulldogs looked to get their first win at Gentry Stadium against the Unicoi County Blue Devils Friday night.
The Bulldog rushing game could not be contained all night as Hampton ran their way to a big road victory 32-13.
Things started early for the Devils as running back Kody Lewis took the toss for sixty-five yards and a score followed shortly by a blocked extra point.
Looking to even things up the Bulldogs took over for the first time. After marching down the field, Hampton was faced with a fourth-down situation.
Quarterback Conor Jones would convert though on a rush that would bring Hampton into the red zone.
Eventually, after taking up ten minutes in the quarter Oaks would eventually bring the ball across the goal line making it a 6-6 game.
After a Devil three and out, the punt would be blocked and recovered by Jones. With excellent field position, the ‘Dogs were looking to capitalize and take the lead.
But on the first play of the drive, the Bulldog pass was picked off by Matthew Sellars of Unicoi.
With the game still tied Hampton came out in hopes to regroup and score. After an impressive grab by Gage Chambers to take the ball across midfield Greenwell would take off for thirty-five yards assisted by excellent blocking.
Chambers would cap the drive off with a rushing score followed by a successful two-point attempt giving the Bulldogs a 14-6 edge.
With a minute left in the half, Aidan Vines would help the Bulldog cause with a twenty-five yard gain bringing Hampton into scoring position where Jones would find Oaks in the end zone for his second score to end the half at 20-6 in favor of Hampton.
With a running game that worked tremendously in the first half, it made perfect sense for the Bulldogs to keep pounding the pigskin in the second.
Things were working according to plan until the Blue Devils forced a fumble in the red zone and took over at their own ten.
However, the drive would amount to nothing as Jones intercepted a Devil pass taking it back to midfield.
With one quarter left to play all that Hampton needed to do was drain the clock and secure their lead.
The ‘Dogs would do more than that as Macon Barden would run the ball inside the five-yard line to set up another touchdown by Vines to make the game 26-6.
But just as things seemed to be over for Unicoi Co., Lewis would take the kickoff all the way back to cut the score to 26-13 with ten minutes left.
Hampton would eventually turn the ball over on their next drive giving the Devils a chance to score again.
After making it inside the ten, the Bulldog defense would stand tall and force a turnover on downs leading to a Max Cash rushing touchdown to essentially seal the game at 32-13.
The rushing game was probably the most influencing factor of the game’s outcome.
Head coach Michael Lunsford said, “We’ve seen them against the Power I and we knew that’s one way we could exploit their defense.
“We’ve got four great runners and by the end of the game, they just got tired of trying to tackle them. We had a gameplan and we stuck to it on both sides of the ball tonight.”
After this statement win, the Bulldogs will travel across Carter County to take on Happy Valley next Friday at 7:30 pm.
