Rough start for Bulldogs
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East Palestine’s Calvin Hoffer runs in Friday’s season opener. (Photo by Gary Leininger)
East Palestine’s Braydon Plum makes a catch against Shaydside’s Michael Hendershot on Friday. (Photo by Gary Leininger)
EAST PALESTINE - Entering this season, the East Palestine Bulldogs football program carried high expectations fueled by numerous returning players from a playoff qualifier last season and the hiring of successful veteran head coach in Rick Shepas.
However, the Shadyside Tigers had other plans Friday as they knocked off the Dogs 49-13 to get revenge for a 40-7 pounding at the hands of the Bulldogs last season.
The Tigers set the tone for the game by returning the opening kickoff 80 yards before many of the crowd had found their seats in the stands. The Tigers’ junior Michael Hendershot found a crease in the middle and exploded past the Bulldog defenders for the score.
But the Bulldogs answered on their ensuing possession as junior quarterback Clark Rutledge raced 67 yards around the left end to knot the game at 7-7 at the 9:22 mark of the opening stanza.
Just three plays into the Tigers’ next possession, they scored on a 40-yard scamper by Colt Cook to retake the lead at 14-7. Cook's touchdown run came at the 8:08 mark of the quarter.
The Tigers scored twice more in the second frame as quarterback Jayden Johnson scored on a 3-yard run with 8:21 left in the first half, and then he hit Hendershot on a 29-yard touchdown pass with just four seconds remaining before intermission. That pushed the Tigers’ advantage to 28-7 at halftime.
They scored two more touchdowns in the third quarter on runs of 2 yards and 19 yards by Johnson to stretch their lead out to 42-7 by the 2:10 mark of the third quarter and activate the running clock. Johnson rushed for 129 yards on the night, scoring four times.
The Bulldogs kept fighting as they scored with eight minutes remaining in the contest with an 86-yard pass from Rutledge to RJ May to make it 42-13. The Tigers added a 22-yard run by Johnson with just 4:04 left in the contest to close the scoring.
The Tigers will face another Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference (EOAC) foe next Friday when they host the Southern Indians. The Bulldogs will travel to Harrison Central next Friday in another non-conference tilt.