by RON WEATHERFORD
McIntosh Co. was put out of the 2019 state playoffs by ECI in Darien. That was probably a motivating factor when the Buccaneers visited Rountree Friday night.
The Bucs won the game 21-7 to hand the Bulldogs their second region loss. The game was marred by penalties that killed drives and ended a scoring threat that turned first and goal inside the 10 to first and goal at the 30.
“Turnovers and penalties were very costly for us”, commented coach Chris Kearson. “We allowed two reverses on defense that allowed them to sustain drives that hurt us as well”.
It was a physical defensive game for the most part as the scoring either came on longs runs, short runs setup by a long run and a short field after a 20 yard punt.
The game began with both teams scoring on their opening drives. Twenty one points would be scored in the first quarter but just 7 points for the rest of the game as defenses and flags dominated the last 3 quarters. McIntosh used their big fullback on a 76 yard 11 play drive to take an early 7-0 lead.
The Bulldogs answered right back on their first drive. PJ Farnum darted and weaved his way leaving defenders looking at the back of his jersey for a 53 yard touchdown run to tie the score at 7-7.
The Bucs showed they had big play potential also when Johnson turned the corner on the visitors sidelines for a 59 yard touchdown run to take back the lead 14-7.
Neither team was able to mount scoring drives in the second quarter. Two McIntosh drives ended on a fumble and an interception by Kobe Allen.
It was the same scenario in the third quarter as both defenses controlled the game.
The Bucs scored the final touchdown in the game on the first play of the fourth quarter. Backed up to their own 12 yardline, the Bulldogs gave McIntosh a short field after a 20 yard punt.
McIntosh took advantage of the gift 9 plays later to take a 21-7 lead with 11:55 left in the game.
The Bulldogs started their first drive of the fourth quarter at their own 40. Chewing up big chunks of yardage on runs of 10, 12, 13, and 18 by DJ Jones, ECI took it down to the McIntosh seven yardline.
Then the fun began. A false start pushed it back to the 12, a holding call put it back to first and goal at the 30 on the next play. Whitehead hit Mercer for a 25 yard gain only to have a dead ball personal foul on ECI for a fourth and goal at the 20. The drive ended at the Bulldog 11 turning the ball over on downs. On the drive the Bulldogs had 52 yards of penalties.
After the Bulldog defense forced a three and out on the Bucs’ next drive, ECI took over at their own 30 and took it down to the Buc 29 before fumbling back to McIntosh to end their last scoring threat of the game. McIntosh ran out the clock and took the win 21-7.
The total yards for the game were even with 314 for McIntosh and 311 for the Bulldogs. The Bucs got their yards on the ground rushing for 304 yards completing just one pass for 10 yards.
ECI had a more balanced attack rushing for 199 and passing for another 112.
PJ Farnum had his best game of the year on the ground rushing for 152 yards on 21 carries for a 7 yard average. Jones carried the ball 9 times for 64 yards.
Whitehead was 5-10 passing for 110 yards. Trey Hughes was his favorite target catching 3 balls with Farnum, Mercer and Kearson grabbing the other three.
The Bulldogs travel to Savannah Friday to play a makeup game against Savannah Country Day. This is an open date on the schedule, but the Hornets postponed the earlier game against the Bulldogs due to a few players out due to Covid protocols.
