By BLAKE MCCORMICK
Last season the Cottondale Hornets steam-rolled Freeport with over 300 yards of rushing offense that had enough big plays to make Bo Jackson, in the early 1990’s Nintendo game, Tecmo Super Bowl, proud.
On Thursday night (Aug. 25), Cottondale hosted the Bulldogs and planned to once again feature electric running back JaVontai Hall, who blistered the Bulldogs for 217 total yards and five touchdowns, last season. What a difference a year makes!
Freeport defensive coordinator Willie Sand’s crew spent the entire first half shredding the Cottondale offensive line, forcing the Jackson County school to net negative-17 yards of total offense. Then, after surviving an alarming Cottondale rally in the third quarter, polished off an astonishing evening by shutting the athletic home team out in the fourth quarter, leading the Bulldogs to a 20-12 victory in their official season opener.
“Defense played well, especially in the first half,” said head coach Jim Anderson following his 16th season opener at Freeport. “Coach Willie Sand had them really running to the football. They were in attack mode all night.”
Midway through the opening quarter, the Hornets helped the methodical Freeport offense get on the board first with a horribly shanked punt that went out of bounds at their own 20-yard line. On the next play, Chris Decker ran it in from that distance to give the opportunistic Bulldogs a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter the Bulldogs executed a 13-play, 69-yard drive that consumed seven minutes and 32 seconds off the clock. Chris Decker capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge, giving the Bulldogs a 14-0 halftime advantage that appeared to be insurmountable given the host squad’s offensive struggles through the first 24 minutes of the contest.
But the ball, literally, bounced Cottondale’s way in the third quarter. Freeport’s Dalton Simpler forced a Hornets fumble, but the ball flew forward, and was picked out of the air by Cottondale receiver Amari Banks, who ran it in for a 54-yard touchdown to trim the lead to 14-6.
Later in the quarter, Hall, who amassed over 2,300 total yards last year, broke open on a 69-yard touchdown run, accounting for over half of the 126 yards he would garner for the night after being held to (-2) yards on just three carries in the first half. Fortunately, Cottondale failed on both two-point conversion attempts, and the Bulldogs clung to a 14-12 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
In the final quarter, the Bulldogs showed poise, regaining their bearing on both sides of the ball.
Seay shifted between running back and quarterback, taking snaps with Zack Johnson, who completed 9-of-10 passes for 48 yards in the game. Seay broke loose on a 42-yard touchdown run midway through the quarter that looked to give the Bulldogs firm control of the game. However, the dramatics weren’t going to be taken out of the game so easily. Seay, the team’s primary holder on extra points, was hurt on the touchdown run and had to miss the point after attempt. The ensuing kick by Spencer McCullough was blocked by the Hornets to keep the game a one possession contest at 20-12 with 8:42 left in the final quarter.
But the Bulldog defense, highlighted on the night by tackles for losses and/or sacks by Simpler, Decker, Anthony Rucker, Junior Carswell, Bryce McBrayer, and Bailey Miller, preserved the big win by preventing drives or big plays from the capable Hornets athletes in their final two possessions.
The Bulldogs win tied the series record at 16-16 overall since Freeport’s first varsity football season in 1976.
Freeport(1-0) travels to Wewahitchka (0-1) on Friday night to face a Gators squad that is reeling from a 64-0 defeat to Port St. Joe this past week. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.