DORA – Good Hope traveled to Dora and looked to spoil homecoming/senior night for the Bulldogs Friday night. But Caleb Danner and Achilya Dixon proved to be too much for the Raider defense, combining for 310 yards rushing and five touchdowns, in a 35-7 victory for the Bulldogs.
Danner and Dixon got started early on the opening drive for the Bulldogs on the 30-yard line. Dora finished the nine-play, 70-yard drive with a 20-yard run around left end by Danner to put the Bulldogs on the board with 8:24 remaining in the opening quarter. Good Hope was forced to punt on its first series, and put the Bulldogs in good field position at the 45. Danner found the end zone for the second time in the quarter with a 45-yard run on the first play to put the Bulldogs up, 14-0, with 5:49 remaining in the first quarter. Dora got the ball back off a blocked punt, which put them in excellent field position at the 29-yard line. A few plays later, on a third-and-9 from the 28, William Goodwin connected with Tavares Howard for a 9-yard gain, which gave the Bulldogs a first down. Danner finished the drive off with a 19-yard touchdown run, his third of the quarter, to give Dora a 21-0 lead with 10.2 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Good Hope forced two missed Dora field goals in the second quarter, but the Raiders couldn't capitalize on those opportunities and went into halftime down, 21-0.
But the start of the second half saw a rejuvenated Raider team, and they got started quickly. They started at the 20 to start the third, and Colton Bagwell led the running attack, getting 34 yards on the first play, putting the Raiders in Dora territory at the 46-yard line. They faced a third-and-14 from midfield, and Bagwell gained 8 yards, and he got 11 more on a fourth-and-6 to keep the drive alive. Eric Dickerson gained 6 on the ground to help with the ground attack and keep the pressure on the Dora defense. Bagwell got the next 20 yards on the drive before Preston Bagwell finished it off with a 5-yard score on the keeper to put the Raiders on the scoreboard with 7:55 remaining in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 21-7.
The Raider defense stopped the Bulldogs on their next series, and looked to keep the momentum going when they got the ball back, but were forced to punt. The duo of Danner and Dixon struck again, as they gained 71 of the 75 yards on the drive, which ended with a 20-yard touchdown run by the former to increase the lead to 28-7 with 12 seconds remaining in the third quarter. They added another score in the fourth quarter on a Dixon 3-yard run.
Final score: Dora 35, Good Hope 7
Danner rushed for 216 yards on 28 carries and four touchdowns. Dixon added 94 on 13 carries and a score. The Bulldogs improve to 7-2 on the season and 4-2 in the region, clinching the no. 2 seed and home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. They will finish the season at Jasper next Friday.
Colton Bagwell got his first start of the season and he made a good impression, getting 121 yards on 21 carries. The Raider offense struggled the whole game, getting just 126 yards of total offense, as they dropped their fourth straight game to fall to 3-6 on the season and finish with a 1-5 region record. Good Hope looks to get a win in its final regular season game at Hanceville next Friday.
"Danner and Dixon have been doing that to almost every team that they have played," Good Hope coach Alan Scott said. "We got some big stops and forced some missed field goals, and in the second half, we got a touchdown and when we stopped them, we thought we had a chance to get back in the game. Dora has a really good football team. The kids played very hard tonight."
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