By KATIE WIGGINS
News Sports Writer
The J.U. Blacksher Bulldogs had their third straight loss of the season Friday night when they played against the Jay Royals, losing 44-7. The Bulldogs have struggled to keep players healthy this year, losing several to injuries.
The offensive players for the game were freshman KD Rabb and junior Lane Sims. The defensive captain for the night was senior Taylor Graham.
J.U. Blacksher won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball first. The Royals scored the first touchdown of the night during the first quarter. Their extra point was no good. With 7:18 left in the first quarter, the score was 6-0, Royals. With 2:23 left in the first quarter, sophomore Justin Heffington had a fumble recovery, which put the Bulldogs on their own 40-yard line. Senior Jacob Bowman ran for a 7-yard gain. Tanner Weaver was able to take the ball across midfield for the first down. A run by quarterback Cooper Dean, a 5-yard pass to senior Logan Crosby, and a run by Bowman brought us to the end of the first quarter. The score was 6-0, Royals.
The Bulldogs continued to drive down the field when the second quarter began. Dean’s pass to Rabb was good for a first down. The quarterback keeper added another 6 yards. Dean’s pass to sophomore JT Tucker put the Bulldogs first and goal from the 9-yard line. Bowman ran 9 yards for the Bulldogs’ only touchdown of the night. Dean’s extra point kick was good, bringing the score 6-7, Bulldogs. The Royals scored another touchdown and completed a 2-point conversion. The Bulldogs lost another player for the season due to injury with 6:01 left in the second quarter. At halftime the score was 22-7, Royals.
Jay pounded the Dawgs, scoring 2 more touchdowns in the third and another touchdown in the fourth quarter. The final score was 44-7, Royals.
The Bulldog offense had 72 total rushing yards on 24 attempts and 132 passing yards on 24 attempts. The Royals rushed for 320 yards on 40 attempts and passed for a total of 61 yards.
On offense, Bowman rushed for 48 yards on 12 attempts and had 1 touchdown. He had 17 yards on 2 catches. Dean completed 14-out-of-24 passes for 132 yards. Rabb had 9 catches for 75 yards. Senior, Weaver, had 1 catch for 28 yards.
Graham led on defense with 14 tackles. Heffington had 11 tackles and a fumble recovery. Crosby had 7 tackles, while Bowman had 6 tackles.
The Bulldogs play an area game against Leroy on October 27 for their last away game of the regular season.