What a difference a week makes.
The Winder-Barrow High School football team bounced back from a lopsided defeat against Gainesville Sept. 14 to battle region foe Salem to the wire last Friday.
While the Bulldoggs fell 22-20 to the host Salem Seminoles, the game was likely the team’s best effort of 2012. WBHS pulled to within two points in the fourth quarter following an 84-yard run by Chad Platt, but could not even the score on the two-point conversion attempt with 6:35 left.
The Bulldoggs would get one final possession with 4:05 left, but the drive stalled on a fourth and 10. After punting the football back to Salem, WBHS was unable to regain possession and suffered the disappointing two-point loss.
The defeat overshadowed a strong effort by the Bulldoggs (0-4 overall, 0-1 in Region 8-AAAAA) as they had a strong effort in an attempt to post their first victory of the 2012 season. Salem escaped to improve to 2-2, 1-1.
“We were just glad to get through this game,” said Seminoles coach John Starr. “People don’t realize the number of injuries we have been dealing with. We were down to three healthy backs running a Wing-T offense. We hope to get some people back next week.”
Salem jumped out to a 7-0 lead on the first series of the contest on a 47-yard run by quarterback Damian Gordon with 8:39 left in the opening quarter. Gordon would strike again, only this time on defense, as he intercepted a pass on Winder-Barrow’s initial possession and returned it 66 yards for a score.
The fireworks for the Seminoles would settle down, however, for the remainder of the first half. The Bulldoggs got on the board on a 4-yard run by Chandon Sullivan with 1:29 before halftime.
WBHS evened the score after a kickoff return by Platt to start the second half went all the way to the Salem 9-yard line. Platt would cap the short drive on a 5-yard run with 10:58 remaining in the third quarter.
“Platt is a good player,” Starr said. “He showed a great deal of quickness and he was hard for us to contain.”
Platt returned to the WBHS lineup for the first time Friday since the Jackson County game Aug. 31. The senior has been slowed with a hamstring injury. He finished Friday’s game with 124 yards on 10 carries with two scores.
The Bulldogg defense forced Salem to punt on its first series of the second half. Some self-inflicted damage forced the Seminoles to punt and a fourth and 38 after a pair of penalties.
WBHS would fumble the football on the ensuing drive, however, setting up what turned out to be the winning score. Gordon took this one in from 10 yards out with 4:09 left in the third quarter. A bobbled snap on the extra-point attempt led to a two-point conversion. Gordon was his team’s leading rusher with 85 yards on eight attempts.
The Bulldogg offense seemed to be a step ahead of Salem for most of the night. Sullivan added 57 yards on 12 carries and quarterback Christian Hodge was effective running the team’s offense at quarterback.
The offense quickly established itself with a 7-yard run by Platt on the first play from scrimmage Friday. Sullivan then took the second play and picked up the initial first down for Winder-Barrow.
Defensively, WBHS allowed 233 total yards, including just 92 in the second half. Several Bulldoggs had strong defensvie efforts including Ega Osuegbu who recorded a first-half sack. Andre Cain just missed an interception during Salem’s third series of the first half and Levi Worley provided a boost on defense and special teams for WBHS. Osuegu and Agustin Salas combined for a backfield tackle for WBHS during the Seminoles’ first possession of the game.
“I’m not surprised at how well Winder-Barrow played,” Starr said. “When we were preparing for them, we wondered how they had not won before now. They play very hard and are so tough up front. We were expecting a battle. Winder-Barrow came to play. They are going to get their first win this season. They played with a lot of heart.”
Al Shotter had another strong game defensively with six tackles and three assists. Osuegbu finished with eight tackles, three assists, two tackles for loss and one sack. Josh Harvey added five first hits and six assists. Bradyn Randall finished with four tackles and two assists.
Worley had two tackles and four assists while Cole Baggett totaled two tackles and two assists.
The Bulldoggs are off this Friday but face top 10 foe Heritage, Oct. 5, at home at 7:30 p.m.
