The Winder-Barrow High School Bulldoggs finished a long and trying season this past Friday as they fell to the Jaguars of Cedar Shoals High School 26-2 on senior night.
Preseason predictions didn’t have the Bulldoggs forecast to win many games this year after hiring a new head coach and having an overhaul in the coaching staff.
But the Bulldoggs probably weren’t expecting to go winless either. Unfortunately that’s what happened in 2010 as the Doggs had a final record of 0-10 in their first year under head coach David Wagner.
“The main thing we wanted to do was compete,” Wagner said. “My number one goal was just to be competitive. Wins and losses was never anything that was on my mind. Overall record was never on my mind. I just wanted to make sure that we competed every game.“
WBHS had 16 seniors on this year’s squad, most of whom had played all four years and who played for three different coaches.
“They [WBHS seniors] have had three head coaches in four years and that’s tough on anybody, that’s really tough on anybody,” Wagner. “I would have loved to have them four years ago. I could have not asked to inherit a finer group of young men. They have stuck with me and believed in me.”
The Bulldoggs gave up 24.8 points per game this season, but were still had an opportunity to win several of those games.
“Looking back at the 10-game season, I can say with a clear conscious that we fought for 48 minutes, never quit and never gave up,” Wagner said. “That’s just a testament to the guys on the team, a testament to the seniors. Those guys believed in me as much as I believed in them.
Winder’s biggest loss of the season was 55-0 to Clarke Central, who are region 8-AAAA champions, and their smallest loss was 14-13 to Heritage, who finished third in region and are going to the postseason.
“I couldn’t be more proud of what these guys have accomplished,” the head coach said. “We competed and went toe-to-toe with some of the best teams in the state of Georgia and never backed down, never wavered, even when games got kind of out of reach late in the game we never stopped playing. The foundation these guys have laid is definitely something to build on.”
The Doggs came into senior night desperate for a win and had a good chance against Cedar Shoals, a team that itself only had a record of 3-6 coming into the game.
Cedar Shoals scored all of its points in the first half, scoring three of four touchdowns on the ground and one through the air.
The Jaguars, who came on strong late in the season, were led by freshman full back Adrian Washington who rushed for 119 yards on 25 carries and one touchdown.
Washington’s touchdown came with 3:27 remaining in the first quarter when he took the handoff from quarterback AJ Davenport and went 21-yards for Cedar Shoals’ first score of the game.
Davenport only completed one pass on the night, unfortunately for Winder it was a twenty yard touchdown pass to senior split end Rodney Moss.
The Bulldoggs could never find a rhythm offensively, their longest run play was 10 yards and the aerial attack of the Doggs was sporadic throughout the night.
Freshman quarterback Christian Hodge threw for 93 yards on 7-for-18 passing, but also threw two interceptions in the loss Friday night.
Winder-Barrow entered halftime with a 26-0 deficit. So the Bulldoggs recovered the ball on a surprise onside kick to start the second half, but the offense continued to struggle and punted the ball back to Cedar Shoals after a three-and-out.
The Doggs forced a fumble on the next play and recovered the ball at the Jaguars nine yard line. Three plays later, senior running back Atrez Gladmon fumbled the ball just one yard short of the end zone as Cedar Shoals recovered at the one yard line.
