GOOD HOPE – The Good Hope Raiders were looking for a win in their final region game tonight, which happened to be against Dora. After a low-scoring first half, the Bulldogs’ running game was simply too much for Good Hope in the second. The Raiders fell 28-7.
On Good Hope's first offensive series of the game, from the 20-yard line, quarterback Matt Hancock moved the offense down the field. Whether it was keeping it himself (33 yards on seven carries), throwing it (2 of 3 for 32 yards) to Matt Schwaiger for 20 yards and Austin Eakes for 12 yards on a crucial fourth down play, or handing it off to Eric Dickerson (10 yards on two carries), it was working to perfection for the Raiders as they were on the 10-yard line. But the offense stalled and a fourth-down conversion failed. Despite burning almost 10 minutes off the clock in the opening quarter, they failed to get in the end zone and Dora got the ball at the 11-yard line. Big runs by Caleb Danner and quarterback Steven Smith, plus an 8-yard completion from Smith to Davien Freeman, put the Bulldogs at the 20-yard line. But a holding penalty, an incomplete pass and two runs later, Dora was forced to kick a field goal from the 21-yard line, missing as it sailed wide right.
Good Hope started at the 20-yard line on their next series, and once again, behind big runs by Dickerson (37 yards on six carries), they moved the ball down the field, burning a lot of clock. After a Bulldog offsides penalty moved them to the 36-yard line, the Raiders went backwards and were forced to punt. On Dora's next series, Smith completed a pass for 6 yards to Freeman, and Danner found a hole and got 16 yards. After Smith got tackled for no gain, he found Freeman on a 58-yard pass play to put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard with 2:57 left in the first half. Good Hope's next series got off to a great start as Dickerson gained 18 yards on the first play, but again, they failed to convert a first down as Schwaiger was a yard short. Hancock picked off a Smith pass just before the half to stop a Bulldog drive.
Good Hope tried an onside kick to start the second half, and it worked as Hudson Leverett came up with the ball at Dora's 44 yard-line. Big gains by Hancock and Schwaiger on the ground, plus a 30-yard play action pass from Hancock to Schwaiger, put the Raiders at the 4-yard line. Two plays later, Schwaiger found the end zone on a 2-yard run to tie the game up at 7 with 8:05 left in the third quarter.
Danner was a man among boys on the Bulldogs' first series of the third quarter as he gained 41 yards on five carries. After Danner got stuffed for just a yard gain on third-and-2, Dora was called for a holding penalty, which pushed them back to the 30-yard line, but on a fourth-and-16 from the 30, Smith found Freeman again for a 30-yard score and put Dora up front, 14-7, with 4:25 remaining in the quarter. On Good Hope's next series, Dickerson fumbled on the very first play and Dora recovered at the 26-yard line and from there, Jordan Foy found the end zone on the first play on an end-around run to put the Bulldogs up 21-7 with 4:07 remaining in the third quarter.
The Raiders were forced to punt on their next series, and Danner and Achilya Dixon got big first downs for the Bulldogs and on the first play of the final quarter, Danner scored on a 10-yard run to increase the lead to 28-7 with 11:54 remaining in the game. Leverett picked up a huge first down on their next series, but Good Hope looked to pull out some tricks on the Dora defense, as Dickerson pitched the ball to Hancock, who then threw it to a wide-open Warren Creel for a 53-yard pickup, but after that, the offense stalled again and they again failed to convert on fourth down. The Bulldogs then brought in the second-string players.
Smith finished 6 of 9 for 143 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Danner rushed for 123 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown. Foy rushed for 34 yards on a pair of carries and a touchdown for the Bulldogs, who improve to 4-5 on the season. They finish with a 2-4 region record. Dora’s defense played their parts to perfection and finished strong in their final region game. They finish the season against Walker next week as they look to even their record.
Hancock finished 4 of 15 for 105 yards and rushed for 34 yards on 14 carries. Dickerson finished with 83 yards on 17 carries. Schwaiger rushed for 21 yards on seven carries and a touchdown, plus he caught two passes for 50 yards. Eakes, Creel, Riley Kilpatrick and a few others played great on defense for the Raiders, who fall to 0-9 on the season and finish 0-6 in the region. They will look to cap the season off with a win against the Hanceville Bulldogs in their final game of the season next week.
"Danner is a really good ballplayer," Good Hope coach Alan Scott said. "We moved the ball pretty good. We had some nice drives going. We played good on defense. It came down to them making some really big plays. But our guys fought hard. Next up is Hanceville; we really have to bust our butts out there."
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