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Scores and Photos of Friday night high school football - Oct. 2
TRION, Ga. - It took all of three plays Friday night for the Trion Bulldogs to exorcise the demons of one year ago.
Last season's 3-0 overtime loss to Christian Heritage was the low point for the offensively-challenged Bulldogs, and it was a big reason the team missed the Class A public school playoffs.
Friday's 39-7 rout of the Lions was, if possible, not as close as the score.
Gabe Howell's 54-yard catch-and-run on the game's first play set up Drake Clowdis' 1-yard touchdown run barely a minute into the game and immediately put the Lions on their heels.
"I was on the headset, and right after that first play I said, "Boys, we just got the monkey off our backs,'" Trion coach Justin Brown said. "All that work we did in the offseason has paid off. Who would have thought we would have won that game so decisively against a good Christian Heritage team?
"This was a complete effort, as good as we've had in my time here."
Trion (5-1, 2-0 Region 6A-A) scored on five of its first seven drives, put up 372 total yards in the first half and limited Christian Heritage (3-3, 0-1) to 45 first-half yards and two first downs. The Bulldogs added to their 7-0 lead on their third possession, a five-play, 54-yard drive capped by a Jarrett Gill-to-Howell 21-yard pass.
After forcing the Lions to go three-and-out, Trion got the ball at its 16 and needed just three plays to make it 20-0. A 32-yard DeVonya Farmer run on first down was followed two plays later by a 53-yard Gill-to-Jarrett Pierce touchdown bomb.
The quick-strike passes, Brown said, are the key to the offense so far.
"Jarrett Gill is the real deal for us," Brown said of the sophomore, who had 191 yards and three touchdowns on just six completions. "He keeps people honest, and he showed again tonight that we can get behind people and hurt them."
The running game wasn't bad either. After Pierce's touchdown catch, Farmer ripped off a 42-yard touchdown run. Then, after a Pierce interception, the Bulldogs went 77 yards in 10 plays to make it 33-0, with Gill hitting Howell for a 20-yard touchdown on third-and-7.
"Last year's game just motivated us beyond measure for this game," said Pierce, who had 98 total yards. "Coach preached all week that we needed to get ours, and we did."
Trion's defense made life miserable for Christian Heritage quarterback Tyson Cooper, who was 9-for-28 passing for 143 yards and held to 26 rushing yards after averaging nearly 250 total yards per game.
"We contained their big plays," Brown said. "We knew Cooper was as good as advertised, so we had to limit his effectiveness and his touches, and for the most part we did. We played great coverage and we put pressure on him."
Malik Martin, who led Trion rushers with 107 yards, capped the scoring with a 1-yard run in the third quarter as the Bulldogs enjoyed a running clock in the final period.
"This is a swing game, and it was last year," Brown said. "It was last year and kept us out of the playoffs. I'm so proud of the guys - I was about overcome talking to them in the locker room - because it's such a big win for us."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296. Follow him at Twitte.com/youngsports22.