NOTASULGA – The 1A Notasulga High School Blue Devils scored a late touchdown to shock the 3A Pike County High School Bulldogs, 14-7, in the regular-season opener for both teams in Notasulga Friday night.

The loss spoiled the regular-season head coaching debut of Pike County coach Rodney Dollar. Dollar is the fourth different head coach in as many years to lead the Bulldogs’ program.

The Bulldogs (0-1) held a 7-6 lead in the fourth quarter until the Blue Devils (1-0) took the game away.

The Pike County defense held Notasulga and appeared it was going to pull out a close win. But a Pike County return man fumbled a punt and Notasulga recovered a fumble at the Pike County 26-yard line.

The Blue Devils faced a 4th-and-4 and the Pike County six-yard line when they scored a touchdown and converted the two-point conversion with just under three minutes left in the game to take a 14-7 advantage.

Pike County appeared it had scored a touchdown on its next possession. However, the touchdown was called back due to a penalty. The Bulldogs would later turn the ball over on downs and the Blue Devils ran out the clock.

PCHS scored on its opening possession to take a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a 62-yard pass from Marlon Meadows to Quadry Greasham.

But the rest of the night was a nightmare for the Bulldogs as they were plagued by numerous penalties and miscues on both sides of the ball.

Dollar said he was extremely disappointing with his team’s lack of progress after showing some encouraging signs in last week’s jamboree against Charles Henderson.

“We didn’t play well on either side of the ball,” Dollar said. “They came out on the good end of an ugly game. We went backwards. We missed tackles and had too many penalties. We couldn’t get anything going offensively. Nothing was in flow.

“We’ve got a lot to learn. I want them to remember the (losing) feeling. We no doubt took a step back from last week.”

Marlon Page led Notasulga with 81 yards on 15 carries, followed by DeJuan Williams with 43 yards on 4 carries. As a team, the Blue Devils gained 174 yards on 39 carries. Cedarious Alexander completed 8-of-19 passes for 99 yards despite four dropped passes.

Following the game, Lucas praised his coaching staff and players saying that they have finally learned to win the battle in the trenches and finish games. Lucas added that his team has got to get more disciplined. During his postgame speech to his team, he simply said, “14 more!”

Pike County looks to bounce back this Friday night when it begins 3A, Region 2 play hosting Slocomb (1-0). The Red Tops were a surprising 21-6 winner over 2A power Cottonwood Friday night. Kickoff from Brundidge is set for 7 p.m.