By Mike Johnson Riverbend News
This week's game was a battle for the records as the Suwannee Bulldogs hosted the Westside Wolverines. This would be their first matchup and both teams weren't sure what to expect, but were not going to hold any punches.
The battle of Bulldogs and Wolverines started with both sides' defense stopping anything coming their way. The Wolverines started off by winning the coin toss and elected to receive. This was their first mistake of many that would cost them the game. Once the Bulldogs kicked off, there was no stopping the pounding Suwannee gave. Suwannee held a well-disciplined team to zero points for the first quarter and seemed not to be backing off.
It wasn't until five minutes left in the second quarter that the Wolverines were able to strike, beating the Bulldogs in the air for a 42-yard pass ending on Suwannee's seven-yard line. This led to a seven-yard rush by Westside for a score, but the Bulldogs stopped the Wolverines on the two-point conversion. Suwannee remained scoreless at the half, trailing the Wolverines 6-0. But, as seen before, the Bulldogs don't go down without a fight and still had a whole second half to show their opponent why you don't come into the dog house.
In the third quarter, Suwannee came out full sprint, scoring 22 points to the Wolverine's seven. Andrew Brown "popped the top" with a two-yard run, scoring the Bulldogs' first six points. Then, the extra point was made by Suwannee's Braxtyn Green. This gave the Bulldogs the lead, 7-6, but it did not stop there. The Bulldogs defense kept the pressure on forcing the Wolverines back and one simple mistake of letting a missed snap roll out the back of the endzone gave Suwannee a safety and extra two points. Next to score was Suwanne's Malachi Graham with a 24-yard rush beating the defense and putting another six points on the board. The Wolverines finally answered back with 39-yard pass, scoring and bringing their deficit closer. Still, with one minute on the clock, the Bulldogs turned up the heat and Graham returned the kick-off for 70 yards, scoring again for the Bulldogs.
The fourth quarter was no better for the Wolverines, as Suwannee kept beating them down, not letting up an inch. The Bulldogs made sure this was not going to be a close game and did everything, they could to keep Westside from scoring. This was not the same for the Wolverines defense, as Suwannee put up another 21 points, putting the final score at 43-13.