By Nick Nunn
Staff Writer

The Morgan County Middle School Bullpups blew the Monticello Hurricanes away last week 26-7 in Jasper County.
The Bullpups asserted their dominance over the Hurricanes very early in the game.
Morgan County received the ball on Monticello’s 46-yard line to start the game, and, on the first play of the drive, Tremon Moore ran the ball the remaining 46 yards of the field for the first touchdown of the game. The Bullpups didn’t get the extra point, so the score was 6-0 as they prepared to kick off to the Hurricanes for their first possession of the game.
The Hurricanes fumbled on the first play of the drive, and Morgan County came up with the ball on the Hurricanes’ 31-yard line.
Astonishingly, the Bullpups’ second drive only lasted one play as well, when Malik Chapman ran the ball 31 yards through Monticello’s defenses for a touchdown. The extra point was good after the second Morgan County touchdown, making the score 13-0 with four minutes and 35 seconds left to go in the first quarter.
During the second drive by Monticello, Willie Simmons tackled a Monticello player for a loss of six yards, and Lamarcus Stokes intercepted a deflected pass and ran it back for a touchdown, but both his interception and touchdown were negated by a personal foul penalty by Morgan County.
Monticello got the ball back on the Morgan County 49 yard line because of the penalty, but the Hurricanes weren’t able to score, and they had to return the ball to the Bullpups with only a few seconds left in the first quarter.
Almost the entire second quarter of the game consisted of a single drive by Morgan County, which, despite sizeable runs by Chapman, MJ Webb, and Moore that got the Bullpups within inches of their endzone, ended with a turnover on downs and 19 seconds to go in the first half of the game.
The first half of the game ended with a score of 13-0.
The Hurricanes received the ball to begin the second half of the game. Their first possession ended with an interception by the Bullpups, so Morgan County got the ball back on the 50-yard line.
Morgan County was unsuccessful, and the turnover on downs gave Monticello the ball on their own 43-yard line with only 59 seconds left in the third quarter.
Nevertheless, the Hurricanes used that 59 seconds to score their first point of the night with a passing play for a touchdown as the time ran out. Their extra point was good, so the fourth quarter began with a score of 13-7.
The Hurricanes attempted and recovered an onside kick to begin the fourth quarter, but an offside penalty against Monticello forced them to redo the kick, but, this time, Chapman returned the ball to the Bullpups’ 44-yard line.
After a six-yard run by Simmons, Moore finished the drive with a 50-yard touchdown run, which, in addition to a good extra point attempt, brought the score to 20-7.
The Hurricanes’ next drive ended with a turnover on downs at the Bullpups’ 29-yard line.
After seeing Simmons run 71 yards for a touchdown right after getting the ball back, many of the spectators must have believed that they were having déjà vu, but Morgan County really was scoring on the first play of a drive for the third time of the night. The extra point attempt wasn’t successful, but Morgan County’s score was well out of Monticello’s reach with only four minutes and 43 seconds to go in the last quarter of the game.
The last Hurricane possession of the night ended with another turnover on downs, and the game came to a close after a couple more plays by Morgan County.
The final score was 26-7, the first win for the Bullpups of the season.
“I am glad we are back on track taking one game at a time,” said Coach Webb about this week’s win.
“We played well on defense and we were able to play several different players at linebacker.”
“We are proud of our players, but we still need to keep working.”
The Bullpups’ played Greene County yesterday. Expect the game summary in next week’s edition. On Sept. 26, they’ll play against Loganville at home. 

Printed in the September 20, 2012 edition