Bainbridge blows by Dougherty

ALBANY — The Dougherty Trojans knew they’d have their hands full when the Bainbridge Bearcats came to town with their high-powered offense Friday night. The Bearcats took advantage of untimely mental mistakes and lapses by the Trojans en route to a 49-28 victory.

Bainbridge sophomore running back Dameon Pierce came into the game with more than 1,000 rushing yards. Wide receiver Tyler Story entered with more than 43 catches on the year. Both added to those already record-setting numbers Friday and were instrumental in the Bearcats’ blowout.

The first quarter was filled with situations in which the Trojan defense looked like they would bend but not break. However, they ended up allowing a score.

On Bainbridge’s first possession, the Trojans were able to force a fourth-and-26 situation. The Bearcats went for it and completed a 26-yard pass to the Trojan 1, which set up a one-yard Pierce touchdown.

On third-and-35, quarterback Brett McLaughin found Story who took it to the Trojan nine, which set up another Bainbridge touchdown. The Bearcats took a quick 21-0 lead after just one quarter of play.

“A lot of it was youth,” Dougherty head coach Corey Joyner said about his team’s first half miscues. “We got sophomores, guys that never played safety back there in the secondary and they have a very experienced quarterback and receiving corps, and they took advantage of some things that we practiced, so that was kind of disheartening. But all in all, I’m proud of our guys.”

Meanwhile, the Trojans failed to make it across midfield in their first four possessions. They were able to put together a scoring drive on their fifth possession in the beginning of the second quarter.

A 20-yard run from Jared Kiser put Dougherty at the Bainbridge 32. A long run from Anphernee Jordan put them in the red zone and from there, Sewonjai Henderson caught a 19-yard touchdown pass. At that point, the Trojans were still down 28-7.

Bainbridge continued moving down the field expeditiously and scored twice more before the half. They went into the break with a commanding 42-7 lead.

The Trojans were able to come out and put together a near 80-yard scoring drive to start the second half. Late in the fourth they put together two more drives. The second ended with a 51-yard touchdown catch by Dre’Shon Alston to make it a respectable 42-28 game, but the damage was already done.

Joyner said he was pleased with the fight his team put up down the stretch.

“Overall our guys didn’t quit,” he said. “We made a game out of it, it came down to 14 points, you see they had to put the starters back in, so it’s expected. We’re still building our team as opposed to other teams that are already established.”

Dougherty fell to 3-3 on the season and 0-2 in Region 1-AAAA ‘B’ subregion play. They will look to bounce back against Westover next week. Bainbridge heads into their bye week undefeated at 8-0 and will host Westover on Oct. 30.