BLOUNTSVILLE – Friday night was a 3A Region 6 matchup between the J.B. Pennington Tigers and Hanceville Bulldogs. It did not end well for the Bulldogs. They were shut out 42-0.
The Bulldogs won the toss and elected to receive; it seemed a quick three-and-out, but a roughing the kicker flag put the ball back in the hands of the Bulldog offense. It looked like Hanceville would capitalize, but the ball found the ground, and the Tigers pounced, giving it to the Pennington offense. The Bulldogs’ defense stepped up, forcing a three-and-out.
Both teams played strong defense through the next several possessions. It wasn’t until the second quarter that any points were scored. Jalon Bullard ran it in from 10 yards to give Pennington a 7-0 lead with 11:24 remaining in the opening half.
It looked to be a low-scoring affair until Bullard snagged an interception to finally wake up the Pennington offense; they capped off the ensuring drive with a 9-yard touchdown from the arm of Noah Allison into the arms of Alex Washburn, stretching the lead to 14 with 5:27 in the half. The Tigers were not content to go to the locker room up 14; they scored again to make it 21-0 with only 16 seconds to go when Sheldon Blythe pounded it in from 7 yards out.
Fresh out of the break, it didn’t take long for Pennington to pick up where it left off, taking the opening drive of the all the way into the end zone on the legs of Bullard; he scored from 13 yards out with 9:40 left in the third to make it 28-0.
A bad snap by the Bulldogs put an end to the series when they had to punt, giving the ball back to a hot Tiger offense. It only took one play for Allison to find Cole Littleton with 1:16 left in the third to stretch the lead to 35-0.
Pennington started to pound the ball and chew the clock, eventually finding the end zone once again. Bullard scored on a 2-yard run with 8:10 remaining in the game for his third TD of the night, giving the Tigers a commanding 42-0 lead.
The Bulldogs’ Romael Simmons broke a 54-yard run, but it was followed by a couple of incompletions that resulted in a turnover on downs.
The Tigers possessed the ball for 12 plays to end the game, sealing the deal on a 42-0 victory for the home team.
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