Sports Editor

Danny Smith spent one season at Pike County High School as head coach, but received a pretty good taste of the Bulldogs-Trojans rivalry.

Smith was hired following the departure of two-time state title winner Wayne Grant, but left Brundidge following the 1992 season, a year that saw the Bulldogs go 6-6 and advance as far as the third round of the Class 4A state playoffs.

However, Charles Henderson got the best of Smith and the Bulldogs, handing them a 14-8 loss in Brundidge on Oct. 23, 1992. The win by the Trojans snapped a four game losing streak to Pike County and set the tone for CHHS to make a run for the playoffs.

Coming into that game, Charles Henderson was still struggling to find some sort of consistency in the win column. The Trojans had dropped their first three games of the season to Elba, Opp and Dothan, bounced back to win two over Andalusia and Wetumpka, but fell the week prior to the Pike County game against Daleville in a 34-6 homecoming blowout. After the win over the Bulldogs, CHHS and then-head coach Jay Jefcoat – who had suffered two consecutive losses to Brundidge himself – reeled off three straight wins over Hillcrest, Greenville and Choctaw, assuring themselves of a winning season. The win over Greenville earned CHHS the Class 5A Area 4 title and a berth in the state playoffs.

Up 14-8 in the closing seconds of the game, the CHHS defense stopped Pike County on fourth and one from the Trojans’ 11 to preserve the win. The Bulldogs had come into the game spurred on by an emotional victory over Opp the week before.

But it was the Trojans and Demond Collins who took control early. Collins rushed for 102 yards on 16 attempts and helped set up a pair of CHHS touchdowns in the first half. Rodney Williams scored on a run with 8:26 left in the first quarter and quarterback Osaygefo Grubbs completed his first pass of the game to Roderick McBride on second and six for a score. McBride’s touchdown came with 7:37 left in the first half and put the Trojans up 14-0.

In the second Carlos Carlisle, who had 92 yards on the ground, answered for the Bulldogs, setting up a touchdown run by quarterback Terry Anthony with 8:33 left in the game. Carlisle added the two-point conversion.

After the game CHHS defensive coordinator Ralph Sanders said:

"It is sweet to us. I came here two years ago with Coach Jefcoat and for the past two years Pike County has beaten us. It feels great now to win over a team that has a great reputation and players like they do."

CHHS would finish the year 6-5, following a loss to Blount in the second round of the playoffs.