Andalusia welcomed home by securing a tough 27-10 victory as they defeated Bibb County its first loss of the season in the 4A top-10 clash of undefeated teams on Friday night.
Director of Football Trent Taylor was proud of his team’s effort to play all four quarters.
“Bibb County has a great football team. Head coach (Matt) Geohagan is doing fantastic work, and most likely we will see them again if we keep trying to do what we have to accomplish. Zerrick was able to score some great runs, and I am very proud of Jack and our receivers. Our coach (Matt) Mellown had a brilliant strategy. One of the things I’m happy about is the first four quarters that we’ve been required to play on both sides of the ball. Our players did a excellent job in this. I don’t really know a amount about Geneva at the moment We’ll get to work and figure out what we have to do,” Taylor said.
Andalusia (6-0) had a three-and-out in its first play but it was able to get back on the field when Pickle Calloway was able to recover a fumble from an attempted punt return. Bibb County (5-1) played an offensive stand and Cobb Stewart booted a 28-yard field goal to take an 3-0 lead at 8:19 remaining in the first quarter. The Bulldogs were next to take advantage of an onside kick, but could not capitalize and instead punted back towards the Choctaws. Jordan Leverette moved the chains by throwing a 14-yard ball for Matthew Cash on second down before Landen Marshall forced a fourth down by securing.
Jack Lathrop found Elijah Landrum on a 10-yard catch, assisted by a facemask penalty subsequent drives. Zerrick Jones followed up with 13 yards of running for a second first down. He added seven yards from two plays before the game ended.
Bibb County forced a turnover during downs, and started its next play with a 15-yard ball by Leverette for Cash. Two penalties for false starts resulted in costly penalties as the drive came an end via the punt. Andalusia began the drive from its own 42-yard line and scored a touchdown in just three play. Lathrop was able to throw an interception of 56 yards towards Parker Adams, and Stewart’s PAT gave the team a 10-0 advantage at 8:06.
Leverette kicked off the offensive sequence with a 14-yard romp before finding Cash free to gain 18 yards across the middle. A couple of minutes further, Leverette had an 11-yard run, before Jay Harris picked up another first down via an 18-yard scamper. Nelix Ferrell snuffed out the possibility of scoring on third down, which allowed a field goal attempt. Kevin Duran split the uprights and brought the Choctaws close to 10-3 with just 4:01 remaining in the second half. Kal Crittenden reacted in big fashion for the Bulldogs by kicking the ball 85 yards to returned for the touchdown. Stewart made the catch for a lead of 17-3 just 12 seconds after.
Cortez Morrow reacted with an impressive kickoff return. Leverette scored a first down on an 11-yard run, however the defense at home stepped up with three consecutive interceptions and forced the turnover on downs just before halftime.
Bibb County was unable to move in its first possession in the second half, after Tyler Sigers recovered a fumble in the opposing territory. Jones started the next game with a run of 16 yards and Lathrop was able to connect with Brunson Wilson with an 8-yard pass. A couple of minutes after, Jones crossed the goal line from just five yards and Stewart handed Andalusia the lead of 24-3 at 7:08 into the third.
The defense carried on its excellent work but the Choctaws did the same by kicking. Ferrell took over an attempt to pass however the Bulldogs were held deep on their own 10-yard line. Lathrop struck Crittenden with a pass of 18 yards and resulted in the 11-yard run of Jones. In the aftermath of a holding penalty Jones ran 40 yards in the last play of the third quarter. Lathrop completed a 12-yard pass to Crittenden and resulted in an 23-yard field shot from Stewart to give the team a 27-3 advantage with just 10:17 remaining in the game.
The teams did not have a chance to play throughout the game until Bibb County got to the end zone in a bizarre play at 39.1 seconds left. Andalusia nearly had an end-of-game stop however, Leverette broke through the defense and completed an interceptor of 44 yards for Jamerious Sanders. Duran’s punt was the last score for the game.
Lathrop completed the game with 9-of-17 passes for the 126 yards and scored the touchdown. Jones carried 19 times for an impressive 107 yards, and the score. Adams caught one pass for 56 yards. He was next followed by Crittenden who had four receptions totalling 42 yards.
Xavier Marshall led the defense with seven tackles. He was then followed by Zade Newton, who recorded four. Tristan Pitts, Riley Tucker and Cadariyus Love each had three tackles in the victory.
Andalusia will travel to Geneva (2-4 1 – 4A region 2) to play a regional game on the Friday of October. 6.
The article Bulldogs defeat Bibb County in a homecoming game of undefeated 27-10 was first published in The Andalusia Star-News.
