TARRANT, Ala. – It wasn’t always pretty, but the Good Hope Raiders managed to collect another region win on the road Thursday night. The Raiders fought off a resilient Fultondale team with their explosive running game to leave Wildcats Stadium with a 31-25 win and improve to 7-1.
Fultondale was forced to punt after receiving the game’s opening kickoff, but the Raiders handed it right back with a fumble on their opening possession. The Wildcats didn’t retain possession for long after a backward pass went over the head of the intended receiver and Good Hope’s Jesse Blackmon scooped up the ball and returned it all the way down to the Fultondale 29-yard line. Just a few snaps later, Raiders quarterback Tanner Malin ran one in from 16 yards out to take an early 6-0 lead on the road.
The Wildcats responded with an impressive scoring drive that drained the remainder of the first quarter and ended with a 1-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second. The extra point gave Fultondale a 7-6 lead at the start of the second quarter. Good Hope responded with a scoring drive of its own, capped off by another 16-yard touchdown run, this time by running back Colton Bagwell. The missed extra point made it a 12-7 game with eight minutes to play in the second quarter.
The Raider defense forced a turnover on downs on the ensuing possession and with just under five minutes remaining in the half, Good Hope’s offense went to work. The Raiders were moving the ball and running the clock with their rushing attack but took their first strike through the air with just over a minute left in the quarter when Malin found Paydon Bagwell all alone down the near sideline and hit him for a 41-yard touchdown. The extra point was no good and Good Hope moved in front 18-7 with 1:13 left in the opening half. However, Fultondale was able to capitalize on good field position following the kickoff and got a field goal on the board as the half expired to make it an 18-10 game at the break.
The Raiders continued pounding the ball on the ground in the third quarter, working their way into Wildcats territory, when Malin took off once again and outran everyone to score from 36 yards out and give Good Hope a 25-10 advantage early in the second half. The Raiders forced Fultondale to turn it over on downs again and both teams traded punts after that to round out the third quarter.
After another Good Hope punt early in the fourth, the Wildcats were able to get back on the board with a 12-yard touchdown pass that trimmed the lead to 25-17 midway through the final frame. Fultondale then recovered a muffed pooch kick to regain possession with a chance to tie things up, but a Paydon Bagwell interception ended the drive for the Wildcats and gave the ball back to the Raiders’ offense.
Colton Bagwell hammered the Wildcats defense seven times for 56 yards on the ensuing possession to take big chunks of time off the clock, and Malin capped it off with a 30-yard scoring run that made it 31-17 with just under two minutes to play.
The Wildcats refused to lay down and got the ball into the end zone one more time with two seconds on the clock to cut it to 31-25, but they couldn’t recover the following onside kick attempt and Good Hope escaped with a 31-25 victory.
The Raiders racked up 316 yards on the ground in the win, led by Colton Bagwell with 188 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries. Malin added 108 yards and three touchdowns on the ground to go with a 41-yard touchdown pass for Good Hope.
The Raiders will return home next week for another big region showdown against Dora.
Copyright 2020 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
