By Nick Nunn
Staff Writer

The JV Bulldogs lost their first game of the season last week against the Jefferson Dragons, 33-27.
The JV team was supposed to play the Putnam County War Eagles two weeks ago, but the game was cancelled by Putnam County as a result of a lack of players for their JV team.
The Bulldogs’ JV team had matched up against the Jefferson Dragons during the pre-season scrimmage that took place in Jefferson two weeks before the start of the regular season.
Morgan County won the toss at the beginning of the game and deferred.
The Dragons were able to score on the first drive of the game, but weren’t able to score the extra point, so the score was 6-0 as the Bulldogs got the ball for the first time of the night.
Morgan County wasn’t able to score during their first possession, and the Dragons were able to return the ball to their own 45-yard line after the Dogs’ kick.
Jefferson scored again on its second drive, making the score 12-0 because of another missed extra point.
The Bulldogs weren’t able to score until their first possession in the second quarter. Morgan County had good field possession after Sam Couch returned the ball from their own 42-yard line to the Dragons’ 45-yard line. A 36-yard pass play to Maclane Zant, which put the Bulldogs on the Dragons’ 12-yard line, helped Morgan County advance toward their endzone, and they were able to score three plays later. The Dogs couldn’t make the extra point, bringing the score to 12-6.
The Dragons were able to score a couple of possessions later, and looked like they were going to do it again with a little less than a minute to go in the first half, when Couch intercepted a deflected pass and ran the ball to the Dragons’ 5-yard line.
The Bulldogs scored on the next play as Tyler Efird ran the ball five yards for the Bulldogs’ second touchdown of the night. The extra point was good, so the score was 18-13 with 54 seconds left in the first half of the game.
The Dragons weren’t done scoring for the half, however. They completed a pass play into the endzone as time ran out on the half. They went for a two-point conversion, which was successful.
The score at the end of the half was 26-13.
The Bulldogs got the ball to begin the second half of gameplay, but weren’t able to score during the possession.
After a long drive, the Dragons were able to score on their next possession.
The Bulldogs wouldn’t score again until the fourth quarter. They got good field advantage when Couch returned the ball to the Dragons’ 36-yard line. After a couple of penalties moved the Bulldogs back and forth on the field, a 10-yard carry by Couch and two carries by Efird totaling 15 yards brought Morgan County to the endzone for the third time of the night. The score was 33-20 with a little more than seven minutes left in the game.
The Dragons’ next drive ended after four plays when they fumbled and Morgan County recovered the ball on the Dragons’ 30-yard line.
The Bulldogs scored on the first play of the drive when Couch ran in a 30-yard pass. The extra point after the touchdown brought the score to 33-27 with less than six minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
Morgan County’s defense was tense during the last drive by the Dragons, who were within reach of the Bulldogs for the first time since the first half. But there wasn’t much time left on the board.
Jefferson made it to the Bulldogs’ 29-yard line with a third down and two yards to go to.
The final score of the game was 33-27, the Bulldogs’ first loss of the season.
Despite the loss, the Bulldogs played well against the Jefferson Dragons and were able to mount an impressive comeback in the second half, which almost brought them within reach of catching up with the Dragons.

Printed in the September 20, 2012 edition