By PATRICK CASEY
Walton junior running back Azende Rey ran for 242 yards and three touchdowns as the Walton Braves improved to 2-0 on the 2014 season with a 47-7 road victory over the Freeport Bulldogs on Friday night.
The Braves scored three touchdowns over the first 14 minutes of the game as Jalen Jones scored on a 31-yard sweep, Cody Phillips hauled in a 50-yard bomb from quarterback Jace Fielder and Rey scooted seven yards for an early 21-0 advantage.
Freeport had over 200 return yards on the night as David Godwin provided excitement with two long kickoff returns, the second leading to a short drive for the host squad’s only score of the night as Phillip Johnson ran 11 yards for a touchdown to trim the lead to 21-7 with 9:12 left in the first half.
Walton pushed the lead to 28-7 after Phillips intercepted a halfback pass from Godwin, leading to Fielder’s second touchdown pass of the game as he connected with Jones on a 44-yard strike moments later. Rey added a 26-yard scamper with 3:29 left in the half to help the Braves to a 35-7 lead at intermission.
Freeport moved the ball throughout the game but the Bulldogs stalled out on five different drives that ended in Walton territory as the Braves defense stopped the home team on fourth down on six different possessions in the contest. Johnson led the Freeport offense with 102 yards on the ground.
Walton held the Bulldogs to 199 total yards and took advantage of three turnovers to earn the win and drop Freeport to 1-1 on the year.
Walton scored on seven of their 14 possessions and totaled 483 total yards in earning their 12th win out of 13 regular season games with Freeport in varsity high school football.
Walton (2-0) will play their first home game of the regular season as county rival South Walton (2-0) comes to town on Friday night at 7 p.m. while Freeport (1-1) will travel into Bay County to face Panama City Arnold (1-1) on Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Mike Gavlak Sports Complex.
