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BY NIC MILLER
STAR CORRESPONDENT

HAMPTON – After last week’s big road win in Mountain City against the Johnson County Longhorns, the Hampton Bulldogs looked to keep rolling against the Sullivan North Raiders during homecoming on Friday night.

After receiving the ball to begin the game, the Bulldogs would come out firing as only a minute into the game quarterback Conor Jones would find Morgan Lyons on a slant route for a 65-yard score followed by Michael Harrison’s point after to give the home team an early 7-0 advantage.

The Raiders, who came into this game winless, would begin the game with a blunder as a fumble on their own nineteen would be recovered by RD Ward to give the Bulldogs excellent field position.

And only one play after the fumble, Blake Peavy would take a toss nineteen yards across the goal line for another quick Hampton score.

After Harrison’s extra point, the score was now 14-0 in favor of the Bulldogs two minutes into the game.

The next drive was another quick one for the Bulldogs as Jones would call his own number to start the drive with a 57-yard rush to bring his team near the red zone.

That is where Aiden Vines would cap it off with a 23-yard touchdown run as Hampton would go up by a score of 21-0 in the first.

The Bulldogs would continue their offensive attack with less than a minute left in the first quarter when Levi Lunsford would break multiple tackles on his way to a 45-y23ard touchdown run to increase the Hampton lead to 28-0.

After recovering the fumble earlier, Ward would make an impact on the offensive side of the ball as he rumbled for a gain of twenty-seven on the drive to put the Bulldogs in another good spot to increase the lead in enemy territory.

And increase the lead they would as Vines would dive in from four yards out a few plays later, helping Hampton increase their advantage to a 35-0 score in the second quarter.

After yet another three and out for the Raiders, Harrison would take up a different role on the team, catching a dime from Jones for a 24-yard score.

Harrison would then contribute the seventh point on the drive with the extra point as the ‘Dawgs would go up 42-0 halfway through the second quarter.

During halftime, the Bulldogs celebrated homecoming as the winners were announced in the following order: Haley Taylor as the third runner up, Aubrey Winger the second runner up, Nicole Guy the first runner up with Sophie Cable becoming the 2020 homecoming queen.

The second half brought with it a running clock as well as one more Bulldog touchdown with Ty McElyea taking it across the goal line from three yards out to put the nail in the coffin and give the Bulldogs another win, 49-0.

Jones, who played in this contest on his birthday, finished the game 4-8, 135 passing yards, and two touchdowns in his first-half performance.

The Bulldogs leading rusher, Aiden Vines, finished with 87 yards and one touchdown on the night.

The Hampton defense stood tall for the second week in a row as the Raiders were held to only 67 total yards in the first half before the starters were pulled.

Bulldog head coach Michael Lunsford was impressed with his team’s performance saying, “We played well in all three phases of the game. Conor (Jones) passed the ball very well and our runners did a great job of following their blocks and hitting the right holes.

“And on top of that, our offensive and defensive line played excellent, they dominated the trenches. At the beginning of the season, we had about three key playmakers, but now we have many more guys that can do it all for us.”

Hampton will be back in action next week at home against Cloudland for their second matchup of the season.