Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Pike County Bulldogs (8-3) saw their season come to a close on Friday night in the Class 3A Quarterfinals, falling to the Mobile Christian Leopards (6-7) by a score of 27-7.

Pike County struggled to move the ball all night and the combination of injuries, turnovers and penalties doomed the Bulldogs. Pike County amassed just 67 yards of offense and were penalized 10 times for 98 yards in the loss. Pike County’s top offensive weapon, senior athlete Ian Foster, was injured on the first drive of the game and was unable to compete for the remainder of the contest, as well. Quarterback Omari Barrow also left the game with an injury.

Still, despite penalties, injuries and turnovers, the Bulldog defense kept Pike County in the game as long as it could, holding the balanced Leopard offense to 215 total yards.

The two sides went into the second quartered tied at 0-0 and the scoreless tie remained into the final seconds of the half. With 26 seconds left in the second quarter, Mobile Christian quarterback Landen Snow threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Michael Moore to give the Leopards a 7-0 lead at halftime.

The two sides exchanged turnovers to open the third quarter and then things began to snowball for the Bulldogs. Late in the third quarter, Mobile Christian’s Ben Brewer scored on a 26-yard run. The Bulldogs then threw an interception on the ensuing possession and two plays later, Miguel Camboia threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Brewer to extend the lead to 20-0.

In the fourth quarter, Brewer intercepted a Bulldog pass and raced 70 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead to 27-0. Pike County finally got on the board with under two minutes remaining when a bad snap on a Leopard punt was scooped up by Bulldog Que Carter for a touchdown.

Zay Carlisle led Pike County’s offense with 15 carries for 58 yards, while Barrow went 5-for-10 passing for five yards and two interceptions. On defense, Markelis Hobdy earned nine tackles, two tackles-for-loss and a sack. Sophomore Jamious Williams also had an interception for the Bulldogs and Carter recovered two fumbles.

While Pike County’s season comes to a somber end, the Bulldogs rebounded from a 0-9 season in 2021 to win eight games and made it all the way to the quarterfinals of the playoffs.