GOOD HOPE, Ala. – The Hanceville Bulldogs made the short trip to James W. Shabel Stadium for a regional clash with Good Hope Friday night and despite a great effort on the ground from the visiting Bulldogs, the Raiders were able to pull away and collect a 47-28 win, improving to 3-2 on the season.
Good Hope found the end zone on its second play of the game when Ethan Anderson burst through the line and outran the Bulldogs for 70 yards to the house, making it a 7-0 game with less than two minutes gone in the game. Hanceville couldn’t handle the ensuing kickoff and the Raiders got the ball back right away. Tanner Malin took advantage of the mistake with a 22-yard touchdown pass to Jager Burns that made it a 13-0 game with 10:09 on the clock in the opening quarter. However, the Bulldogs were able to respond on the next possession and capped off a scoring drive with a 6-yard touchdown run by Zac Campbell. Campbell’s run made it a 13-6 game going into the second quarter.
The Raiders were stopped short on fourth down on their next possession, giving the ball back to Hanceville. Campbell’ second touchdown run of the night, followed by a 2-point conversion, put the Bulldogs in front 14-13 at the start of the second quarter. Good Hope responded, putting together another scoring drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Malin, putting the Raiders back on top 20-14 with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half. Good Hope’s defense made a stop on fourth down to cut Hanceville’s next possession short and Malin made the Bulldogs pay with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Charlie O’Neil. The score gave the Raiders a 28-14 lead late in the second quarter and they held that lead going into the locker room at halftime.
Hanceville got the ball to start the second half and put together a long, methodical scoring drive that used a lot of the clock in the third quarter and ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Campbell, his third of the night. After the 2-point conversion, the Bulldogs trailed just 28-22 with less than three minutes to play in the third. Hanceville couldn’t celebrate for long, because Good Hope responded with a scoring drive of its own and pulled ahead 34-22 after Anderson scored from 27 yards out just before the end of the third quarter.
The Bulldogs were able to get on the board again early in the fourth quarter when Campbell punched in his fourth touchdown of the game to cut the lead to 34-28 but Anderson broke free for another big run and made several Hanceville defenders miss on his way to the end zone. The 41-yard touchdown run made it a 41-28 game with just under 11 minutes left to play. On the ensuing possession, Malin intercepted a Bulldogs pass to give the ball back to Good Hope and Burns sprinted across the goal line from 9 yards out to put the game out of reach. The Raiders went on to defeat Hanceville 47-28.
Anderson racked up a game-high 225 yards on the ground to go with his three touchdowns. Malin added 110 rushing yards and a score along with a pair of touchdowns through the air and Burns finished with a touchdown of his own. Burns and O’Neil each caught a touchdown pass as well. Campbell led the way for Hanceville with 140 yards and four touchdowns on 28 carries. Brosnan Ward added 73 yards on 15 carries and caught six passes for 38 yards in the loss.
Good Hope improves to 3-2 on the year with the win and will be back home next week to host Addison. The Bulldogs fall to 1-3 with the loss and will try to bounce back next week when they travel to Locust Fork.
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