Pictured is #55 Zayden Jones, #22 Logan Young, #14 Ambrose Poor, and #3 Chris Lopez
Author, Stephen Richards once said, “The true measure of success is how many times you can bounce back from failure.”
This quote couldn’t ring any truer for the Waldron Jr Bulldogs who after a good fight, ended falling short 36-14 to the Ozark Jr Hillbillies Thursday night. For years, Ozark has been considered one of the best contenders in 4A football. Where other teams go on weekly winning streaks, the Jr Hillbillies go on yearly winning streaks. The mere fact that other teams cant even put points up when facing Ozark is a massive victory in itself for the Jr Bulldogs considering they landed 14. But last night’s game was more than a win or loss. It was a showing of growth for the Jr Bulldogs because they never backed down and never gave up at any point. With three games down, the Jr High Bulldogs sit 1-2 on their season.
The first quarter of the game resembled Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video with each team showing off their best moves in an effort to prove who the alpha was. Blow for blow and run for run, the Jr Bulldogs and Jr Hillbillies matched each other so well that the quarter ended with a 0-0 score. Helping to put a freeze on Ozark due to their relentless bulldozer mentality was Zayden Jones, Joseph Rogers, and Steve Grano. The second quarter is when things started to heat up. Just as Ozark was preparing to go in for the kill, an “oopsie” Hillbillie fumble allowed Lucas Nix to hurl his body on the ball giving the Jr Bulldogs their momentum back.
Unfortunately, Waldron faced some difficulty lighting up the scoreboard and Ozark took possession of the ball. The Hillbillies QB was itching to make a big play and after he found an open receiver downfield who graciously took the pass, Michael Grano was there with the takedown successfully crushing the Hillbillies dreams like the Grinch on Christmas morning. Ozark was close enough to paydirt though permitting the Hillbillies to snag the first touchdown of the night. Ozark went on to finish the first half with one more touchdown along with both two-point conversions and the Jr Bulldogs and Jr Hillbillies hit halftime with a 16-0 score.
The third quarter opened with Damion Dickens flying down the field like a wig in a windstorm for an 18-yard KO return. The Bulldogs offense did everything they could to make magic happen but it just wasn’t their time yet. Ozark managed to bring home the bacon with two more touchdowns and a conversion for a 30-0 score. With time running out for the Bulldogs to showdown in the Hillibillies hoedown, Joseph Rogers took the handoff from QB Brayden Mays and was gone faster than pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Day, giving Waldron their first TD in the game. Mays snuck in with a QB keeper for the two-point conversion and the Jr Bulldogs were on the board 30-8. As the clock hovered around the four-minute mark, Ozark garnered yet another TD but not without the Jr Bulldogs having the final say. Chris Lopez would end the match with a colossal run for a TD finishing the game with a final score of 36-14 Ozark.
“I was impressed by how hard the kids played. We just ran out of gas in the second half. We have to work on finishing the second half,” stated Coach Garett Lazenby. On September 24, the Jr Bulldogs will travel to Mena to face the Jr Bearcats. Last year, Waldron won the argument of which is better, dogs or cats, with a score of 33-8. This time, the Jr Bulldogs plan to prove yet again that every dog has his day.
