Fred Holland knew that rebuilding the Pike County football program would be quite a chore. The Bulldogs showed signs of life Friday night, but ultimately fell to Dale County 20-6.

Pike County seemed to once again shoot itself in the foot in the redzone. The Bulldogs moved the football with relative ease from twenty to twenty, but struggled down close to the endzone.

“We had too many penalties that killed drives,” said Holland. “We would have a good play and be set up good, and then look up and it be first and 15, second and 20 or whatever. It’s hard to win like that.”

For the second week in a row, Pike allowed an early first quarter touchdown and had to play from behind the rest of the game.

Dale County converted a third and two play for a touchdown with a spectacular over the shoulder divging catch by

Holland said the Bulldogs are “growing up” every snap, and will continue to get better down the stretch.

“We are playing a lot of young guys,” said Holland. “They are getting lots of snaps and improving all the time.”

Bulldog running back Raheem Pearson announced that he is healing up well. Pearson went down early in the week one win over Goshen, and played a limited number a snaps last week.

Pearson took a Warrior kickoff back 97 yards for a touchdown to get Pike back in the game in the second half.

“He (Pearson) isn’t all the way 100 percent,” said Holland. “We held him out a little this week and he played well. He still has good speed and will continue healing up.”

Late in the game the Bulldogs suffered a big blow due to an injury. Deshon Cowling suffered what appeared to be a broken lower leg. Cowling left the stadium in an ambulance with an air cast on his leg.

Holland said that it always tough to lose a player, but especially one who works as hard as Cowling.

“Cowling is a great young leader,” said Holland. “He has taken it upon himself to lead, and hopefully he will heal up quick. It just stinks to lose a great kid like him.”

Damion Adams led Pike County on the ground with 87 yards on 19 carries. Cowling and Pearson led the Bulldog defense with five tackles a piece.

Pike County returns home next week for a game against Abbeville.