Toombs Battles Pirates
It was a tough Region matchup for the Bulldogs of Toombs County High School last Friday night in The Pit as they hosted the Pirates of Appling County High School. The Pirates were coming off a win on Monday night over the #2 ranked Bears of Pierce County while Toombs had dropped a game on the prior Wednesday to Brantley County. The Bulldogs put up a fight and made it a game, but in the end fell 34-21. The Bulldogs forced a three-and-out on the Pirates first drive of the game. Toombs got a big run by Tank Morris, but that was all they could do on their first possession of the game as they fumbled the ball over to the Pirates. Appling put the first points of the game on the board on a 50-yard touchdown pass. They added the extra point to take a 7-0 lead with around seven minutes to go in the first quarter. Toombs had to punt on their next possession with just over four minutes left in the first.
Appling added to their lead in the second quarter of the game with six minutes to go on a 19yard touchdown pass. That capped off a 60-yard drive. They added the extra point to lead 14-0 over the Bulldogs.
On Toombs’ next drive they got a big pass from Gavin Hall to Caden Marsh for 53 yards down to the Appling 5-yard line. Two plays later Morris was in the end zone for a Bulldogs touchdown. Angel Morales added the extra point to close the lead to 14-7. Neither team added to their totals over the remainder of the first half.
Appling scored on their first possession of the second half of the game. They went 70 yards and finished it off with a 2-yard run for the score. With the extra point they led 21-7 over Toombs.
Toombs answered on their next drive as they went 68 yards with Morris taking it in from 18 yards out for the touchdown. With the Morales kick they now trailed 2114.
Appling put another touchdown on the board with just over a minute to go in the third quarter of the game on a 12-yard touchdown pass. The extra point was blocked by Marsh, but the Pirates now led 27-14.
Toombs muffed the kickoff and Appling was able to recover it, setting them up with good field position. They added to their lead on a 2-yard run to make the score 34-14.
The Bulldogs kept fighting, though, and several big passes from Hall moved the Bulldogs quickly down the field. He connected with Wil Watts on passes of 16 and 18 yards, Marsh for 19, and Dawson Brantley pulled one pass down for 23 yards. Morris capped off the drive with a short run to close the lead to 34-21.
That was as close as Toombs could get as the Pirates held on to win by that score. Toombs is now 4-3 on the year and are 1-2 in Region 3AA. This week Toombs will have another tough Region test as they head to Blackshear to face off against the Bears of Pierce County. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.
