TRION, Ga. — At some point this postseason, the Trion Bulldogs were going to have to find a run game.
That they did so from an unlikely source could just make coach Sean Patrick’s team a very dangerous one moving forward in the GHSA Class A Division II playoffs.
An offense that put up more than 9,000 rushing yards over the previous three seasons had struggled to find yards on the ground this year, especially against upper-tier teams. Winning in November, however, usually requires some running success, if not to score points then to take snaps away from the opposition.
Such was the case last Saturday against powerful Schley County. Trion’s pass game, as it has been all season, was stout as Kade Smith had four early touchdown passes to build a double-digit lead for the visiting Bulldogs. Schley, though, rallied in the second half, and Patrick and his staff needed to take some time off the clock.
Enter senior Logan Stokes. Heretofore a tight end/defensive end, the 6-foot-4, 245-pounder took over as the lead back — and quarterback in the wildcat formation a few times — and pounded the Wildcats into submission in a 45-40 win to make the Bulldogs one of 16 teams remaining in their bracket.