HOLLY POND, Ala. – After waiting through a couple hours of weather delays, the Holly Pond Broncos hit the field for a homecoming matchup against Brindlee Mountain and they celebrated the occasion with a dominant, 54-8 win over the Lions.
The Broncos quickly forced a Brindlee Mountain punt to start out the game, and Sawyer Olinger returned the ball all the way to the 42-yard line to put them in excellent field position. Holly Pond pounded the ball right at the Lion defense, as Boston Gibbs carried the ball three times for 33 yards during the drive. Olinger finished off the drive with a 10-yard keeper around the right side, then he converted on the two-point conversion to give them an 8-0 lead with 6:21 remaining in the opening period. Brindlee Mountain went on a long drive on its next series and converted a pair of fourth downs, one on a run and another on a Bronco penalty. They put it in the end zone from a yard out and ended up converting on the two-point conversion to tie the game up at eight with a little over two minutes to go in the first quarter.
Big runs by Gibbs and Zayne Faulkner quickly put the Broncos at the 41, then Brody Howard broke off the biggest run of the drive, as his 33-yard scamper put them at the one. Gibbs scored on the next play, and his two-point conversion gave Holly Pond a 16-8 lead with 9:58 remaining in the first half. Aiden Motsinger recovered a Lion fumble on the kickoff, then a penalty put Holly Pond at the 20. Two plays later, Howard found a big hole on the right side and ended up scoring on a 15-yard run. Olinger added the two-point conversion to make it 24-8 with less than four minutes to go until halftime. A turnover-on-downs gave the ball back to the Broncos.
Back-to-back big runs by Gibbs kept the drive alive for Holly Pond. Olinger found Tommy Allbright for 23 yards and another first down. Later on that drive, another huge run by Gibbs gave the Broncos a first down at the four, then Faulkner found the end zone on the next play. Another two-point conversion by Olinger pushed their lead to 32-8. Holly Pond kept adding onto their lead in the first half. Walker Marks recovered a Brindlee Mountain fumble on its next series, and Holly Pond found the end zone on just four plays, as Xander Grazer scored on a five-yard run. Olinger put in yet another two-point conversion to stretch their lead to 40-8. Another Lion fumble saw Sawyer Jordan fall on it at the 21, and the Broncos struck gold on the first play, as Olinger connected with Howard for a 21-yard score to make it a 47-8 game at the half.
Holly Pond added one more score in the game, as Olinger scored on a 41-yard scamper to make it 54-8 in the third quarter. The Broncos gave a lot of younger players some playing experience the rest of the way, and Holly Pond would go on to knock off Brindlee Mountain, 54-8.
Olinger went 3/5 for 64 yards and a score and added 63 more on the ground and a pair of touchdowns for Holly Pond (2-2, 1-1). Gibbs collected 82 yards on the ground and a touchdown. Howard added 48 rushing yards and a touchdown and finished with the 21-yard receiving touchdown. Faulkner ended up with 26 yards on the ground and a touchdown. Motsinger, Marks, Jordan, and Anthony Reyes all had fumble recoveries in the game for the Broncos.
The Broncos will continue region play next Friday night when they go to Geraldine.
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