It was a game of missed chances for the Pike County Bulldogs Friday night in their preseason opener against Charles Henderson High School at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Bulldogs scored on the game’s opening play but ultimately fell to the Trojans 17-13.

“We made a couple of mistakes and gave up a big pass play late,” said Bulldogs head coach Fred Holland. “Overall, I thought our guys played pretty good. We have a lot of things we need to work on. This gives us the opportunity to do it and to see what we need to improve on.”

After the opening kick off, Pike County took possession of the ball at their own 44 yard-line. Jerrell Lawson took the team’s first snap and rolled out to his left and connected with Jahmir Lampley for a 56-yard touchdown to give Pike County the early 7-0 lead.

From there, the Bulldog offense struggled to get anything going in the first half. It wasn’t until their final drive of the first half that they picked up a first down. The Bulldogs had three consecutive three and outs during that span of time.

“Their defense was making some big plays for them, they sputtered a little bit but our defense sputtered also,” Holland said. “I think we both have a lot of work to do both offensively and defensively. I didn’t take anything we are d0ing personally we just have some things that we need to improve on.”

After entering halftime down 10-7, the Bulldogs let up there 17th unanswered point when Trojan quarterback Bryson Gandy connected with Nick Lewis on a 37-yard touchdown catch.

A big moment in the second half occurred on the tail end of a long Bulldog drive. Pike County thought they had a long touchdown reception, but it was later nullified by another official, saying the ball was not controlled as the player hit the ground.

Lawson and the Bulldog offense picked it up in the fourth quarter and went on a long, nine play scoring drive that ended on a one-yard touchdown run by Lawson bringing the Bulldogs within four points. Pike County missed the pivotal extra point that would have brought them within a field goal of the Trojans.

After holding The Trojans to a three and out the Bulldogs had one more chance to go down and score the winning touchdown. With just 1:16 left on the clock and the ball spotted on their own 17-yard line the Bulldogs were unable to pick up a first down.

Lawson ended the game completing seven out of his 17 attempts for 113 yards and a touchdown. He also threw one interception.

Cory Batie, Deshon Cowling and Michael Rump all finished the game with two receptions.

Cowling led the Bulldogs in rushing with 44 yards on 15 carries. Batie finished with 22 yards on just two carries.

With the preseason and the much hyped rivalry game with Charles Henderson in the rear view mirror, the bulldogs will now have to shift their attention to next Friday’s game against another rival, the Goshen Eagles.

It will be the official kickoff of the 2015 regular season for both teams. Kick off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Bulldog Stadium in Brundidge.