By Nick Nunn
Staff Writer

The MCMS Bulldogs’ postseason began and ended last Wednesday with a 6-28 loss to Youth Middle School at Walnut Grove.

Youth’s victory on their own field provided the Bulldogs with a bookend for their year; matching the Bulldogs’ loss to Youth 14-21 for their first game of the season.

Both teams seemed evenly matched in the first half of the game.

After a failed drive by Youth, which ended when Paul Guderian recovered a fumble for Morgan County, the Bulldogs drove down the field in a possession that spanned from the end of the first quarter into late in the second quarter, before finally scoring on a 1-yard quarterback keep by Dalton Cole for the first touchdown of the game.

Hoping to give the team a little edge in what seemed like it would end up being a close game, the coaches decided to go for a 2-point conversion, but the attempt was not successful.

In the final minutes of the first half, Youth was able to get to their endzone, and were able to execute an onside kick, which gave them the ball until the end of the half.

Leading the game 7-6, Youth decided to attempt another onside kick to begin the second half, but the Bulldogs were able to recover.
Eight plays into the Bulldogs’ drive, they fumbled the ball to Youth, who, in turn, fumbled the ball back to the Bulldogs four plays later.
But there were more white flags ready to fall. The Bulldogs let go of the ball again on the next play.

Youth was able to advance quickly into their own territory, and scored their second touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Losing 6-14 with fewer than seven minutes left in the game, the Bulldogs knew that they had to catch up quickly.
Cole attempted a long pass for the first play of their drive, but the ball was picked off by Youth in their own territory.

Thanks to a couple of big plays and a facemask penalty against Morgan County, Youth was able to move quickly down the field, earning seven more points in less than three minutes.

Trailing by 15 points late in the last quarter, some of the players on the Morgan County team had already given up.
“It’s  6-21,” said one player, caching his breath on the bench. “I guess we put up a pretty good fight.”
Morgan County’s next possession ended on a turnover on downs at the 50-yard line, and Youth brought it all the way back to score on their first play, making it 6-28 with less than three minutes to go.

The final score was the same; the Bulldogs weren’t able to score in their last possession.

“I think it would have been a different story if we did not put the ball on the ground twice going down to score,” said Head Coach Stacy Webb. “Once a team gets up on you in the middle school game it is hard to come back.”

Nevertheless, Coach Webb feels good about how the year went and the accomplishments that the team was able to make during their season.

“We had a good team we just didn't make it happen.”
“I am proud of our players. They had a good season.”

Printed in the October 25, 2012 edition