TCHS Loses Heartbreaker To Pierce
Courtesy of TCHS
On Friday of last week, the #3 ranked Toombs County High School Bulldogs football team hosted the #5 ranked Pierce County Bears in a matchup with Region Championship implications.
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for the kickoff, and the Dogs kicked off to the Bears to get the action underway. It didn’t take long for Pierce’s highscoring offense to drive deep into Bulldog territory, but the “Red Bullet” Defense forced a fumble and recovered at the 10yard line to stop the threat. On the Bears’ second drive, they went 8 plays for 48 yards and scored the game’s first points on a 1-yard run with 1:19 remaining in the first quarter. The Bears led 7-0.
The Bears got the ball back early in the second quarter and drove again deep into Bulldog territory. But a Bear pass was intercepted by Mike Polke, giving the Dogs the ball back with 8:38 remaining in the half. Two plays later, junior QB TJ Stanley, hit sophomore WR Gavin Fletcher on an 81-yard scoring strike. Braylen Dietrich added the point after, tying the game at 7.
Pierce responded on their next possession, going 62 yards on 7 plays, scoring on a 16-yard touchdown. This put the Bears up 14-7. The teams exchanged possessions on their next drives, and Pierce County kicked a 33-yard field goal as time expired in the half, to take a 17-7 halftime lead.
The second half looked to mirror a heavyweight boxing match. Late in the 3rd quarter, Pierce found themselves deep in Bulldog territory when Junior LaGonza Heyward jumped and picked off a Bear’s screen pass and sprinted 80 yards for another Bulldog touchdown, slimming the Bear lead down to 17-14.
With 6:06 remaining in the game, the Dogs put together their best drive of the evening and drove 72 yards on 10 plays to put themselves at the Bear 14-yard line with less than a minute to go. The Bears forced a Bulldog turnover on the next play to secure the Region win against the Dogs.
It was a rainy night in The Pit and that seemed to really affect the Bulldogs offense. They were just 8-18 in the passing game for 159 yards, but on the ground were held to only 13 yards on 12 carries. Toombs had just 172 yards of total offense with Pierce racking up 379 yards, including 218 yards on the ground. The thing that helped to keep this a close game was the three turnovers that the Bulldogs forced in the game.
Toombs drops to 7-1 on the season and 3-1 in Region 3AA. The Toombs loss has currently created a storm in Region 3AA. With Toombs defeating Appling, Appling beating Pierce, and Pierce knocking off Toombs, with all 3 games decided by 3 points. Vidalia is the current benefactor of the scenario as they are 3-0 in Region play, but will have to face Appling County at home this Friday night, with Pierce and Toombs still on the schedule.
The Dogs have a bye this week and prepare for Windsor Forest in two weeks at The Pit.
