Dawgs Dominate Wilmington Friends, Earn Bid to Division II Title Game

Bear, DE- After a 2-8 2013 season, the Laurel Bulldogs punched their ticket to the Division II State Championship game, defeating previously undefeated Wilmington Friends School 14-0, in front of a large crowd at Caravel High School Saturday afternoon.

The Laurel defense was dominant all game long. Perez Nichols' would return an interception for touchdown near the end of the first quarter. The Bulldogs would take that seven point lead into halftime, forcing a number of punts throughout the half.

The Quakers' would get the ball to begin the second half, with Laurel forcing yet another punt. Jarrett Johnson would take the punt at the 25-yard line towards the right sideline, make a couple Quakers' miss, and cut across field for a 76-yard punt return. With a 14-0 lead, Laurel's defense got Friends into more passing situations, which lead to more sacks and tackles for loss.

The Bulldogs offense moved the ball fairly well with running backs Chucky August and Reggie Green, but were stalled whenever in the red zone, the Bulldogs had three trips into the red zone in the fourth quarter, getting no points off of those trips. With Laurel's red zone struggles, still the Quakers' offense was completely handcuffed by Laurel's defense. In total, the Bulldogs' defense allowed only 155 yards of offense. “We play physical, earlier in the week, we said, these kids (Wilmington Friends) haven't been hit the way we hit,” said Laurel's Head Coach Glenn Phillips. “Its an awesome feeling, it hasn't hit me yet.” The Laurel High School alum has the Bulldogs in the state final game for the first time since 2008, when they lost the Division II final to Milford High School. Laurel's last state championship was in 1991.

The Bulldogs will take on defending state champions Hodgson next Saturday at Tubby Raymond Field at Delaware Stadium. Game time is set for 2 p.m.