The Bulldogs' defense allowed minus-5 yards and picked off three Wildcats passes in the first half of Addison’s 44-0 win at Tharptown Thursday night. (Nick Griffin for The Cullman Tribune)
THARPTOWN – It was a very one-sided game on the field in Tharptown Thursday night. The Addison Bulldogs (7-2) could’ve named their own score in this one but settled for the 44-0 blowout on the road over the Wildcats.
Addison dominated from the moment the ball was kicked off, literally. Luke Chambers ran the opening kick back 80 yards to put the Bulldogs up 8-0 just a few seconds into the first quarter. On the ensuing kick, the Wildcats muffed the return and Addison recovered the ball at the 36-yard line. Quarterback Zayne Guthrie hit Chambers on the next play for a big gain to get the Bulldogs inside the 10-yard line, and two plays later, Guthrie walked in untouched from a yard out to go up 16-0 just 1:24 into the game.
Tharptown successfully returned the next Bulldog kick but the possession ended almost immediately. Logan Wilkins went up to make a one-handed interception that gave Addison the ball back and Guthrie quickly took advantage again by hitting Chambers for another big gain, this time all the way down to the 1-yard line. Guthrie ran in his second touchdown of the quarter on the next play to make it 24-0 Bulldogs.
That score ended the nights for most of the offensive starters and Addison was able to get a lot of players into the game to pick up some invaluable game experience. Guthrie finished his night 5 of 6 for 88 yards and scored two touchdowns on two carries. Despite playing less than a quarter, Chambers led Addison in receiving with 74 yards on three catches. The Bulldogs kept their starting defenders on the field for the remainder of the first half. Wilson hauled in a second interception in the first half along with Brett Smith, who picked off a Tharptown pass himself.
Junior running back Colt Tyree scored touchdowns from 6 and 9 yards out to put Addison up 38-0 going into the locker room at halftime. At the half, the Bulldogs had allowed a total of minus-5 yards of offense from the Wildcats and collected three interceptions. Addison, on the other hand, enjoyed a balanced first half offensively, collecting 160 yards through the air and 101 on the ground.
The second half was a brief one. The officials agreed to play with a running clock for the final two quarters and the Bulldogs were able to preserve their shutout. With the young group in on defense, Addison forced a fumble on fourth-and-goal and went on to kill most of the remaining time in the game. Freshman quarterback Christian Roberts found freshman wideout Brody Dollar downfield for a 39-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to make it 44-0 as the last few minutes on the clock ticked away. Roberts finished his night 8 of 15 with 110 yards and a touchdown along with 73 yards on the ground.
After the game, Bulldogs Head Coach David Smothers talked about how he thought his team performed on the road after a short week of preparation.
“There were some really good things in there,” Smothers said. “We caught the ball well; a couple times the blocking collapsed on us, but I’ll really have to watch the film to see if it was blocking or if the quarterback was holding in too long, but we got accomplished what we wanted to get accomplished tonight. On both sides of the ball.”
Smothers was very happy to get a lot of younger players in the game and knows how important it is to get experience in a live game. He said he wants to continue finding areas to build on as the postseason approaches.
“It is really valuable. I wished we could’ve played the entire second half without the running clock because we could’ve gotten them more reps, but we couldn’t. We’re just continuously trying to find things to improve on. We can always watch film and find things we’re not doing the right way, and we want to try and get that corrected to give us a chance to be where we want to be.”
Addison will be back home next week to close out the regular season against (4-3) Hatton.
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