By Ryan Black
Photos by Angelina Bellebuono

Three years.
That's how long it’s been since the Morgan County Bulldogs won their season opening game.
But Friday night, the team reset the counter.

The Bulldogs came away with a hard-fought 26-12 victory over the Walnut Grove Warriors, but Head Coach Bill Malone focused less on the win and more on the attitude of both the team and the fans.

"The first thing that strikes me about Friday night is the excitement of our kids before the game," he said. "I haven't seen that level of excitement in a long time. Secondly, to come out of that field house and look up in our stands and see it almost as full as (Walnut Grove's) stands, it was heart-warming. It got our kids jacked up."

And the Bulldogs showed how "jacked up" they were on the first drive of the game, driving 65 yards in just under seven minutes, with Terrance Heard exploding off the right side on fourth-and-inches from the Warriors' 29 and taking it all the way for a touchdown. Campbell Harrison tacked on the extra point to make it 7-0 for the Bulldogs.
The Warriors answered back on the ensuing possession, taking the ball from their own 22-yard line and eventually getting a 41-yard field goal courtesy of kicker Tyler Zielenske to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 7-3.

Morgan County scored again on their second offensive series, this time driving 85 yards in 4:50, scoring on an 11-yard blast right up the middle by Desmon Williams with 2:28 remaining in the first half. Harrison converted the extra point to make it 14-3 in favor of Morgan.

Up Next • MCHS vs. Avondale

Sept. 3 at 7:30 p.m.

MCHS – Bill Corry Stadium

By Ryan Black
Staff Writer
 
Two teams coming off vastly different openers will meet Friday night at Bill Corry Stadium.
In one corner, there are the Morgan County Bulldogs, coming into their home debut after an opening week win over Walnut Grove.

In the other corner, there are the Avondale Blue Devils, who were shutout by Druid Hills High School last Friday.
That loss came on the heels of an extremely tumultuous offseason for the Blue Devils.

Due to issues with physicals, the team could not hold spring practice.

They could not lift weights, either, since the weight room was demolished during a renovation to the school last year.
On top of all that, when Avondale finally held preseason practice, only 23 players dotted the varsity roster.
Despite all the issues surrounding the Blue Devils, Bulldogs head coach Bill Malone is not overlooking an Avondale squad that made the playoffs in Class AA last season before losing to Calhoun in the first round.

"You worry about a team like Avondale when you only have one film on them, they have a brand-new coach and they run a 3-5 (formation) on defense," he said. "That defense is the most difficult for a team to have to block, with or without athletes, and they are loaded with athletes."

Malone described the 3-5 as an "attacking" style of defense, and "you never know where the stunts and blitzes are going to come from", invoking the name of legendary defensive mastermind Joe Lee Dunn, who Blue Devils head coach Byron McCall served as a graduate assistant under while he was at Mississippi State.

By Ryan Black
Staff Writer
 
"Making it look easy" might be an understatement when talking about the Morgan County High School varsity softball team in region play so far this season.

After opening their region schedule with a 19-0 shellacking of Greene County on Aug. 19, the Lady Bulldogs continued their domination over their Region 4AA brethren last week, beating Crawford County 12-0 Tuesday and following that up with a 14-0 win over Putnam County on Thursday.

Heather Sexton pitched the entire game against Putnam, which ended after four innings due to the mercy rule, allowing only one hit and striking out seven while facing the minimum amount of batters.

The entire team had a good offensive outing, with six out of the nine batters picking up multiple hits in the contest.
Head coach Anne Stamps was satisfied with Thursday's performance.

"We played well, and when they come out and they are ready to play, they look like a good ball team," she said. "The key is focusing from start to finish, and if that happens, then we do alright."

Being focused from the start was a problem for the team on Wednesday, falling behind 4-1 early against Franklin County.

The Lady Bulldogs rallied in the seventh inning, putting two runs on the board, but in the end, it wasn't enough, as they lost to the Lady Lions 4-3.

"I didn't think we were prepared when the game started, and we fell short," Stamps said. "The girls have it in them, and they made a great fight at the end, but if they had been playing that way from the beginning, it probably would have had a different outcome."

Tuesday's game against Crawford was an exact replica of Thursday's for Sexton from a pitching standpoint, as she again pitched four innings with one hit allowed and seven strikeouts.

By: Rodney J. Andrews: columnist

I will begin with a bold statement: The 1990 Morgan County Bulldogs was the best team this county has produced since the schools integrated. In many ways, the ’90 team represented what integration sought to accomplish. The team had players from Rutledge, Bostwick, Buckhead, and Godfrey. We were the sons of farmers, plant workers, painters, store owners, beauticians, cashiers, and politicians. We had players from affluent families and players from poor families. Those characteristics defined the players, it shaped us as young men, but it didn’t define the team. You see, on Friday nights, under the lights, each young man became something else. With our families and friends in the stands, with young boys reaching out to touch our pads, the moment we ran down those steps and marched on the field, it didn’t matter if we were from Billups Avenue or Billups Street because we were Bulldogs.
The glorious 1990 season was both tragic and triumphant. It has been nearly 20 years, and the 1990 team and the season that they produced is still worthy of praise.

I had the best seat in the house. I was a freshman. I had played football since the first grade and had enjoyed some success as a Bullpup. But let me tell you, they were playing a whole different game at Morgan County High School. It began with the Fifth Quarter Workout. Run. Puke. Repeat. The game that the varsity played was extremely fast and violent. If you managed to make a play against the first team, then you were sure to pay soon afterwards. I could see the writing on the wall; I wouldn’t be playing much on Friday nights. But I got better. Everyone got better. The varsity players were confident in their abilities, and they shared their experience. Coach Cisson could tell you where to be on defense, but Trellis Worrell and Mike McCauley showed you how to get there fast with bad intentions.

By Ryan Black
Staff Writer
 
Losing hurts.
Losing a heart-breaker hurts even more.

That was the case for the Morgan County High School Spike Dogs last Thursday in Loganville, where they won the first game 25-19, dropped the second game 25-15 and barely lost the deciding game to the Lady Patriots, falling 26-24.

Head coach Beverly Hayes was proud of her team's effort, but felt they still need to be mentally tougher.
"I am very proud of the team and how they all played," Hayes said. "We cut our serving errors down by less than half tonight.  We also did a great job of playing aggressively at the net. (But) we had a time during the last match when Anna Wilson was injured and that took us out of the game mentally for a few points. The team cannot afford that type of a mental lapse in such a fast-paced game."

In their first match last Thursday, the Spike Dogs picked up their first victory of the season, sweeping Loganville High School 25-15 and 25-18.

"It was exciting to get our first win of the season," Hayes said. "It gave the team some much needed confidence. They have worked hard during practice and it paid off."

Last Tuesday at Prince Avenue Christian, Morgan lost both of their matches, to Prince Avenue and Hart County, respectively.

As for this week, it will be a busy one for the Spike Dogs, with three matches on the docket.
Monday, they hosted their first match of the season at the MCHS gym, facing off against Prince Avenue and Cedar Shoals High School, before heading on the road Tuesday to face George Walton Academy and Archer High School in Monroe. Results from Monday and Tuesday were unavailable at presstime.

On Thursday the Spike Dogs are back at home, hosting North Oconee and Monroe Area High School.

Staff Reports

At some point, somebody will come within 10 runs of the Morgan County Middle School Lady Pups fast pitch softball team.

But not yet.

In the Lady Pups first three games the middle school team has out–scored opponents a cumulative 47–5.
Morgan County opened the season August 17 defeating Carver Middle School 19–2 in a game where 20 Morgan County batters came to the plate in the first inning, scoring 15 runs on nine hits. “I was very proud of the way the girls came out and started the season,” said Morgan County Head Coach Sarah Titshaw. “Our first five batters reached base on four solid hits and a walk. It was great to see them go out and start off strong. We were able to take advantage of some aggressive base running to get our runners in scoring position.”

In the Carver game Aubree Cox started the game on the mound and in two innings of work struck out three batters. Hayden Massey pitched the third and struck out one batter. Meagann McSherry was 2–3 at the plate with two singles. Cox was 2–3 with a single and a double and Miranda Sneed went 2–3 at the plate with two singles.
On August 24 Morgan County blanked Greene County 15–0. Titshaw said the Lady Pups “got off to a slow start” by scoring four runs in the first two innings but then the floodgates opened in the third. Morgan piled on 11 runs in the inning to end the game on the mercy rule. Massey pitched the entire game and struck out five of Greene County’s 12 batters.

“It took a couple of at–bats to get adjusted to the pitching but once we started being more patient we managed to draw some walks, get some hits and get our runners in scoring position.”