By Devin Smith

The Messenger

MIDLAND CITY – It’s hard to find the positive in defeat, but Pike County head coach Fred Holland did just that on Friday, as his Pike County Bulldogs fell 26-0 to Dale County.

“We played well,” Holland said. “We were doing a pretty good job on the run and the pass, then we came back out and just failed to execute on defense. We didn’t get a stop and they did everything right to play a great game in the second half.”

The two teams were undefeated going into Friday’s game, and Holland predicted it would be a tough matchup. The Bulldogs came out determined to shut down the Dale County offense in the first half and were successful in doing so, holding the Warriors to 66 yards through the first 21 minutes of the game.

But then, with the clock ticking down, the Pike County quarterback Jerrell Lawson had the ball knocked loose by Dale County’s Quincy McKay.

The Warriors would drive 57 yards in less than two minutes to score.

“The fumble was big,” Holland said. “It was right before the half. We try to close out halves, but we made a mistake.”

The Warriors would score all four of their touchdown on consecutive drives, with the final touchdown of the night for Dale County coming courtesy of a 66-yard untouched sprint by Jamarius Henderson. Henderson finished the game with 234 yards on 23 touches and three TDs, with 176 of those yards in the second half.

Warriors head coach Pate Harrison unsuccessfully attempted warn his team about the challenge they could expect against the Bulldogs.

“We told them how good Pike County was and it was like we couldn’t get through to them,” Harrison said.

“They watched film and would say Charles Henderson ran away with these guys. It’s a different game when they play us, and I was trying to explain that to them. They didn’t realize it until about the end of the first quarter, then they all looked at me and said ‘coach you’re right.’”

Ultimately Holland was impressed on how his team competed with what many consider to be one of the best teams in the state of Alabama. “I’m still proud of the way we fought,” Holland said. “We didn’t score so we’ve got to score. They did a good job on offense of scoring and did a real good job stopping us on defense so we’ve got some work to do.”

The Bulldogs, 2-1, are off next week but host Luverne in Brundidge on Sept. 26.