Grant Rice returns a punt for a touchdown in Addison's 56-6 win over Sulligent Friday night in round one of the AHSAA playoffs. (Nick Griffin for The Cullman Tribune)
ADDISON – It was a cold, wet and windy Friday night in Addison, but that didn’t stop the Bulldogs from scorching Sulligent to the tune of 56-6 to start their postseason run in dominant fashion. Seven turnovers from the Blue Devils made for a lot of easy scoring opportunities and short fields for Addison’s offense. Three interceptions returned for touchdowns make things a lot easier on your offense, too.
After the Blue Devils fumbled on their opening possession, the Bulldogs took advantage, putting together a scoring drive that was capped off by a 15-yard touchdown run from Gage Gilliland. Addison forced a punt on the Blue Devils’ next possession and Grant Rice made it 14-0 by returning the punt 48 yards for another score.
On the ensuing Sulligent possession, Addison’s Luke Chambers picked off a pass to give the ball back to the Bulldogs midway through the first quarter. The Blue Devils then forced a punt to get the ball back, but Chambers’ night was not over. He picked off another Blue Devil pass but this time returned the interception 18 yards for a touchdown to go on top 22-0. Logan Wilkins followed Chambers by picking off another Sulligent pass on the ensuing possession and by that point, the rout was on. Zayne Guthrie ran in another score from 4 yards out to put Addison up 30-0 early in the second quarter.
The Blue Devils fumbled the ball back to Addison on their next possession and Weston Smith made them pay with a 10-yard touchdown run that made it 36-0 Bulldogs. On their next drive just before the half, Rice scored his second touchdown of the night when he returned an interception 38 yards for another score to go into the locker room up 42-0.
The main objective for the Bulldogs in the second half was to keep the clock moving and keep everyone healthy for next week. Colt Tyree scored from 21 yards out to make it 48-0 in the third quarter, but Sulligent was able to answer and finally get on the scoreboard with a 3-yard touchdown run early in the fourth.
Addison still got the last word in this one. Justin Mather picked off another Sulligent pass in the final moments of the game and returned it 35 yards for the Bulldogs’ third defensive score of the night. The last pick-six made the final score 56-6 in favor of the Bulldogs as they advance to round two.
2A Addison will be back at home next week where they will host (9-2) Ranburne.
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