’Dogs back on track with Scotts Hill trip

Coming off of a game against Dresden in which Gleason let one slip away, the Bulldogs took out their vengeance against an upstart Scotts Hill team 53-21.
It was the first time Gleason has scored more than 50 points in a game since the 2009 season, when the Bulldogs beat Fulton City 50-0 in the first game of the season. It is the second most points scored since head coach Noah Lampkins’ first season in 2002, when Gleason beat Elliston 57-0.
Lampkins was worried about how his team would respond after a tough loss to Dresden a week earlier. But the playoff-bound Bulldogs (5-4) did what they had to do against the struggling Lions of Scotts Hill (2-7). Gleason came out of the gate and took command of the game and by the end of the first half the Bulldogs were leading 40-14.
“To be honest, we did not look very sharp early on,” Lampkins said. “It is kind of that lull you are afraid of.”
It was not too much of a lull for the Bulldogs at first. Ian Legens took the opening kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown.
The Bulldogs got the ball right back after the Lions turned the ball over on downs. Gleason came right back with another touchdown, but it was called back because of a penalty. That led to a Gleason fumble that the Lions recovered and scored a few plays later.
Tanner Trevathan threw an interception three plays after Gleason got the ball back, and that caused Lampkins to make some adjustments after Scotts Hill started driving the ball downfield.
“I called time-out and made a change and kind of really got into our guys pretty good,” Lampkins said. “I told them that their season was kind of on the line right there and they needed to get it together before it was too late.”
Apparently, that talk woke them up because the Bulldogs responded and held a 28-7 lead by the end of the first quarter.  
Lampkins said Legens had a really good game against the Lions. He had a kickoff return for a score, a long punt return and scored on a long run from a jet sweep. But, Legens was not alone making big plays. Chase Ezell scored on a 70-yard counter play and Kyle Williams had a long run after breaking several tackles.
Junior fullback Will Clark rushed for over 100 yards and scored two touchdowns for the Bulldogs.
“We really big-played them to death,” Lampkins said about his offense. “We did not get in much a groove offensively because we would score on our first or second play from each series of plays. We shut them down pretty good after we made that adjustment.”
Because Scotts Hill uses so many different offensive formations such as the double tight end set, double wing-T and the wishbone, Lampkins used the nickel defense to start out with then made some adjustments and went with a base 3-4 defense.
“We went with the base 3-4 regardless what they ran,” Lampkins said after he made those adjustments. “We shut them down after that.”
Gleason took full control of the momentum of the game after the defensive change. Lampkins said he did not want Scotts Hill to think that they were in the game and give them any momentum.
“I told our team before the game to not let them get a false sense of confidence and let them get big plays,” the Gleason head coach said. “That momentum is hard to overturn when things are going well for somebody. It has happened to several teams that are better than their opponent and lose those games because they do not come ready to play. I was worried about that.”
It looked like that was how the game going to be, but the Bulldogs responded after that timeout and took care of business.
Gleason will have to take care of business against another struggling team on Friday when the Bulldogs travel to Bruceton. The Tigers are 1-8 on the season and are mired in a five game losing streak. The Tigers did play well against Dresden, much like the Bulldogs did. Both teams are still looking for their first district win of the season. Published in The WCP 10.23.12

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