ADDISON, Ala. — On an absolutely perfect night for football, the Addison Bulldogs hosted the Colbert County Indians for what promised to be an old-fashioned, knock down, drag-out fight. Addison came out on top 22-15, but the game wasn’t decided until the last 20-seconds of the fourth quarter.
Colbert County took the opening kick-off and after gaining a first down they were forced to punt by the dominant “dawg pound defense.”
It appeared that Addison was going to try and overwhelm the Indian defense by running straight at them. Addison ran two and sometimes three tight end sets all evening daring the Indians to try and stop the run. Addison took over on their own 32-yard line and 8 running plays later, QB Christian “Ice Man” Roberts found the end zone from 32-yards out to give the hometown Dawgs a 6-0 lead. The Eli “Curly” Howse extra point made it 7-0 with 3:47 to go in the first quarter.
On the ensuing kick-off, Colbert County returned it 97-yards for the touchdown. The Indian extra point was good and at the 3:32 mark of the opening quarter the game was tied at 7.
Addison’s next possession started out the same as the last. The bulldogs were running the ball and then Coach Smothers, after selling the run, had TE “Touchdown” Tommy Lee Daniel slip across the middle of the packed defense and Roberts hit him with a beautiful, in stride, pass that Daniels took 80 yards for the score. Cannon “TNT” Hiller took the too high extra point snap and ran into the end zone for the unplanned two-point conversion. This made the score Addison 15, Colbert County 7 with 1:56 to go in the action-packed first quarter.
Colbert County’s next possession was stymied by a Nelson “The Hammer” Hernandez sack which forced the Indians to punt again. The Indians did pin the Dawgs down at their 4-yard line.
Addison did what Addison teams have down for years, they buckled down and ran the ball. The Bulldogs ran off 21 plays, 17 runs and four passes, to get all the way down to the Indian 26-yard line. The drive took the remainder of the half, 9:09, and was highlighted by two fourth down conversions and a 20-yard screen pass to Nelson “Tank” Martin. Time ran out on the Dawgs and they were unable to score but they did keep the Indians offense off the field.
Halftime score, Addison 15 – Colbert County 7.
Addison took the second half kick-off and picked right back up where they left off. Controlling the clock with a powerful running game and some timely passes. A second long drive, 12-plays for 58 yards got the Dawgs down to the Indian 7-yard line but Howse just missed a field goal to keep the game at 15-7.
Colbert County then decided that they couldn’t run the ball against the stingy Dawg defense, so they went to the air. Colbert County went 16-plays for 80-yards, in by far their best drive of the evening, for the touchdown. The Indians cashed it in from three yards out to cut it to 15-13. The two-point conversion attempt was successful with the Indians WR making a diving catch in the corner of the end zone. At the 10:17 point in the fourth quarter, the score was tied at 15.
The Indians were fired up and appeared to have the emotion with them. The Colbert County faithful, a large boisterous crowd, were in full throat as they were cheering their defense on to stop the Dawgs and get the ball back to their offense.
Roberts led his offense out onto the field and from their own 22-yard line with 10:10 to go in the game, “The Drive” started. The Addison offensive line led the way on a dominant drive, and they were determined to seal the victory. 18 plays and 78-yards later, Martin rumbled in from the 3-yard line for the go ahead score. Weston “Big Game” Smith, Martin and Will “the thrill” Tuggle followed the line all the way to pay dirt. The drive took off 8 minutes and 46 seconds off the clock. After the Howse extra point, the Dawgs led 22-15 with only 1:24 to go.
After a squib kick, the Indians took over at their own 42-yard line with 1:20 left on the clock. On the Indians first play, the QB connected on a 37-yard pass that brought the ball all the way down to the Dawg 21. After a 3-yard run, “Tank” Martin picked up a huge sack which brought the ball back to the Bulldog 24-yard line. Two more incompletions later and the Dawgs had held and pulled off a tremendously tough win, 22-15.
Unofficial stats: Addison had 51 carries for 230 total yards. Addison had 8 pass plays for 138 yards. Addison ran 59 total plays for 369 total yards. Colbert County had 18 carries for 45 total yards. Colbert County had 16 pass plays for 132 total yards. Colbert County ran 34 total plays for 177 total yards.
Roberts was 4 completions out of 8 attempts for 138 yards and one touchdown.
Roberts had 14 carries for 71 yards and a touchdown, Martin had 15 carries for 67 yards and a touchdown and Smith had 12 carries for 59 yards.
Daniel had 3 catches for 118 yards and a touchdown. Martin had one grab for 20 yards.
Quentin “Fabio” Barley led the Dawg’s in tackles with 6, Hernandez and Martin had 5 tackles each. Tuggle had 3 tackles. Hernandez and Martin each had a sack. Addison will travel to North Sand Mountain next Friday for the second round of the state playoffs. Addison will be looking for revenge as The Bison knocked the Dawgs out of the playoffs last year.
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