By BLAKE MCCORMICK
Chipley – The 2016 Kickoff Classic between the Freeport Bulldogs and the Chipley Tigers this past Friday night was turning into such a thriller that even a large full moon snuck out from behind the home stands at Chipley’s Phillip Rountree Stadium to check out the second half.
Unfortunately for Bulldog fans, the Earth’s closest neighbor showed up in time to see the home team Tigers throw a 31-yard touchdown pass with 35 seconds remaining in the game to pull out a 22-21 victory.
Despite the loss, which, like all Kickoff Classics, doesn’t officially count, Head Football Coach Jim Anderson liked what he saw from his 16th Freeport team. “The kids played hard, the coaches coached hard, it was a really good night. We got a lot of mistakes to fix just like everybody does the first game, but they’re correctable, fixable things. We didn’t see any glaring weaknesses. We just gotta play better and coach better and we’ll get better every week. I told our guys, next week, Chipley is going to be 0-0, and we’re going to be 0-0, because it’s a practice game.”
Coach Anderson used the scrimmage to break in two new coordinators. Over the summer, Shaun Arntz moved from defensive to offensive coordinator and Willie Sands was brought in from Kentucky to run the defense.
Freeport seemed to impose their will on both sides of the ball. Offensively, the Bulldogs dominated time of possession and total yards while the defense took up residence in the Chipley backfield for much of the game, creating havoc for a highly touted Chipley running game.
However, the Orange and Blue varsity turned the ball over four times, three of which Chipley turned into all of their points scored with the Freeport defense collapsing on the Tigers final drive, allowing the host squad’s passing game that had been in a coma for 3 ½ quarters, to convert a third and long, a fourth and long, and a 31-yard touchdown pass.
“We just gotta do the little things better,” Anderson added. “We gotta stay lower on the offensive and defensive line, we gotta hold on to the football, and we have to not get beat in the secondary and we’ll be fine.”
The contest featured no kickoffs in the game and both teams agreed to play their substitutes in the first quarter.
Freeport won the toss and elected to receive.
The first two possessions for the young Bulldog offense were turbulent. On the first play of the game, a wild snap went over the head of freshman quarterback Austin Johnson for an 18-yard loss, leading to a Bulldog punt. On the second drive, the Bulldogs fumbled on their own 23 yard line.
A ferocious Bulldog defense, led by senior (but first year player) Xavier Carswell, freshmen Preston Cooke and David Ramshur, and sophomores Fernando Rodriguez and Kadyen Inn’s (all who had solo or assisted tackles for losses or no gain) smothered the Tigers on their first two possessions, giving the Freeport offense time to regroup.
On the Bulldogs third drive, Johnson ran the ball three times for 32 yards, and hit sophomore receiver Justin Clark for 14 and 16 yards to push the Bulldogs downfield. Cooke finished the drive with a 23-yard touchdown run with 3:09 left in the first quarter. Zack Johnson, who was lined up as a kicker for the extra point attempt, took the direct snap and ran it in for the two point conversion and an 8-0 lead.
The Bulldogs defense ended the quarter by knocking the Tigers backwards on three straight plays to force a punt.
Junior quarterback Zach Johnson led the first stringers out for the second quarter and picked up where his younger brother, Austin, and teammates left off. Johnson and senior running back Zack Seay alternated tough runs, with Seay converting on a short fourth down conversion. Johnson finished the 60-yard drive by hitting senior Chris Decker with a 23-yard touchdown pass with 7:49 left in second quarter. The extra point by senior Spencer McCullough made the score 15-0.
The Bulldogs starting defense debuted in fine style, forcing a three and out after tackling talented Chipley running back Adrian Sims for back-to-back losses. On the ensuing punt, Freeport’s Dylan Lewis had a 30-yard return to the Chipley 43-yard line, and it looked like a Freeport rout might be in the making. However, a screen pass behind the line of scrimmage was mishandled, and Chipley’s Jonathan Malloy picked up the loose ball and returned it to the Freeport 20-yard line. Two plays later, Sims ran for a 19-yard touchdown, then powered in on a two point conversion to made the score 15-8.
Both teams’ defenses alternated stops and the half ended with the opportunistic Tigers down by only seven, in spite of being out-gained 185-37 in total yards with Freeport also owning a large advantage in time of possession.
The second half started with the Bulldog defense forcing a three and out. Freeport started a promising, time consuming drive that began on their own 21-yard line as they pushed the ball down to the Chipley 35 only to see the host squad’s defense force a fumble that bounced backwards fifteen yards to be recovered at midfield by the Washington County club. Three plays later, Sims broke loose on a big run down to the Bulldog 8-yard line and he capped the drive moments later with a short touchdown run. Marly Booker ran in the two-point conversion to give Chipley the lead at 16-15 with 3:23 left in the third quarter.
Freeport showed poised, responding with an impressive 70-yard touchdown drive that was helped by a Chipley pass interference penalty on third down inside the Chipley 20-yard line. Johnson capped the drive with a 6-yard scoring run for a 21-16 lead.
On the third play of Chipley’s next possession, Freeport forced a fumble that was recovered by Decker at the 36-yard line. After running the ball twice for one yard, Freeport attempted a reverse pass by Decker that was intercepted at the 12-yard line.
Still, with four minutes remaining against a Chipley offense that had failed to show any signs of a passing game, and after two stops for no gain on Chipley’s next two offensive plays, the Bulldogs looked in great shape for a probable win.
However, from the shadow of his own endzone, Chipley senior quarterback Grant Rowell engineered a coming of age drive, completing 4-of-5 passes for 74 yards, including two long conversions to Kelvin Dean Jr, and a 31-yard touchdown pass to tight end Elaijuah Staten for the go-ahead score with 35 seconds left in the game.
Freeport’s offense took the field to attempt a game-winning drive of their own but Chipley’s Grant Smelcer sacked Johnson on the first play of the possession, then forced an incompletion on the second. Johnson threw an interception on the next play to end the rally.
Rowell would then take a knee for the Tigers, running out the clock to end the game for a legitimate Kickoff “Classic.”
Freeport will open the 2016 regular season with a trip to Cottondale on Thursday, Aug. 25, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. at Hornet Stadium.