North Caroline Falls Short Of The Finals
The North Caroline Bulldogs have been perfect on the season – while perfect is hard to come by – the Dawgs have managed to play consistent throughout the entire season. On Friday night, the Bulldogs took the field at home looking to get a big playoff win over the Walkersville Lions.
The North Caroline Bulldogs fell behind early on as Chad Gleason ran in the Lions’ first touchdown to take a 7-0 lead. The Bulldogs continued to push on, but would have to do so without standout sophomore, David Bailey, who injured his foot in the first quarter of the game. The Bulldogs continued to push on for the sophomore, Tay Potts caught a 3 yard pass for the score, but without the extra tweet – the Bulldogs trailed by one, 7-6.
Then in the second quarter, the Bulldogs marched on and Kenny Jackson helped his team with another touchdown to take a 12-7 lead after a missed 2-point conversion. The Bulldogs defense continued to make huge stops on the field, but unfortunately – Cameron Byrd was picked off by Jacob Wetzel and he ran it 49 yards for a touchdown, 14-12 at halftime.
Second half and the Bulldogs had the momentum, but both teams were scoreless in the third quarter. However, the fourth quarter was a back-and-forth battle as the North Caroline defense continued to make big plays. David Bailey came back into the game in the 4th quarter after sitting out a majority of the first quarter, the second quarter and the third quarter. Shane Scharf continued to make big plays on defense as well including a fumble recovery to put his team in good field position. Then, it was Cameron Byrd who went long to Jackson, but the Bulldogs came up short and had to settle with a field goal to make it, 15-14. However, the Lions came back with for a field goal for the win with just six seconds left on the clock, 17-15 the final.
The North Caroline Bulldogs made history this season and should be incredibly proud of everything they accomplished – most consecutive wins, an undefeated season, and from their program’s first ever playoff win, they managed to take it to the state semifinals. This was a quality groups of young athletes that were a pleasure to watch – true students of the game – and congratulations to each and every single one of those players.
