Coming off a 1-8 season, expectations weren’t too high for this year’s Pike County High School football team. The Bulldogs proved everybody wrong at least for one week.

Pike County handled the Goshen Eagles 20-11 in a Thursday night tilt.

“We watched a lot of film from last week to fix our mistakes,” Pike County head coach Fred Holland said. “We had a rough game against Charles Henderson so I’m proud of the way these guys came out and played tonight.”

It took both teams more than a quarter to feel each other out before Pike County scored midway through the second frame. The Bulldogs’ Deshon Cowling returned a punt 52 yards to the Goshen 33-yard line. Four plays later, Damion Adams crossed the goal line on a 1-yard plunge to give Pike County a 7-0 advantage.

Goshen would answer in the third quarter with a 41-yard field goal from Steven Macias.

Pike County would help the Eagles cut the deficit to two when a botched snap on a punt went out of the back of the endzone for a safety. Goshen trailed 7-5.

With 7:51 left in the fourth Adams scored again from a yard out to put the Bulldogs up 14-5. After Josh McClure intercepted a Goshen pass, Pike County struck on a 19-yard strike from Jackson to Cowling.

Goshen would score on the final play of the game when quarterback Ramsey Rigby found Kendrez White on a 21-yard connection.

“We just didn’t execute,” Goshen head coach Bart Snyder said after the game. “We’ve got to come together as a team and play together and execute.”

With the victory, the Bulldogs equaled both its win total from last season and its single-game high point mark. Pike County scored 20 on the Eagles last season in a 33-20 loss.

Pike County will travel to face Barbour County next week while Goshen heads to Luverne.