The Dora Bulldogs came into Friday night’s contest with the Holt Ironmen looking to take out their frustrations after an opening week loss to their rival, the Cordova Blue Devils. The Bulldogs would do just that as they would win their home opener at Horace Roberts Field in exciting fashion using 49 first half points to catapult themselves to a 56-24 win over the Holt Ironmen.
The Bulldogs would get on the scoreboard first as quarterback Garrett Hogland would run for a 10-yard touchdown to put Dora up 7-0 with 8:56 left in the first quarter. This would be the start of an unbelievable first quarter where the Bulldogs would score 28 points. Hogland would find tight end Jayden McDavid for an 11-yard touchdown pass on the next series to go up 13-0. Hogland would then connect with wide receiver Mason Stewart on a beautiful 36-yard pass that would set up a 5-yard touchdown run by Jamarcus Goodmon to put the Bulldogs up 19-0.
Throughout the first quarter, Holt made mistake after mistake that would drive their offense backwards. The peak of their mistakes came when they had to punt the ball from their own 1-yard line. The previous punt they attempted wound up being unsuccessful, so instead of trying to punt from their own 1-yard line, the Ironmen elected to have the punter take the ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety, giving Dora a 21-0 advantage. The first quarter scoring would finally be capped off by an 8-yard run by running back Eric Rogers. The Bulldogs would lead at the end of the first quarter, 28-0.
Unfortunately for the Ironmen, their mistakes would continue in the second quarter. Holt would fumble the ball on a wide receiver screen and Dora linebacker Jayden McDavid would scoop up the fumble and run 15 yards for a Bulldogs touchdown putting them up 35-0. Dora would rely on their depth throughout the second quarter giving some reserves an opportunity for much needed game reps. Running back Eric Rogers would take advantage of this opportunity again in the second quarter finding the end zone from 3 yards out to give Dora a 42-0 lead with 5:47 until halftime.
The Ironmen would finally get on the scoreboard just before half when their quarterback, Jordan Driver would improvise on a fourth down passing play and scramble 51 yards for a Holt touchdown cutting the deficit to 42-6 with 3:28 left until halftime. This would provide Dora’s offense an opportunity to work on the end of the half passing game to try to score before halftime. Garrett Hogland would do just that as the drive would be capped off with a 16-yard pass to Mason Stewart with 3 seconds remaining in the half to put Dora up 49-6.
Mason Stewart would continue his unbelievable game to start the second half as he would take the opening kickoff all the way to the end zone for the final Bulldogs touchdown of the night and a 56-6 lead. The Bulldogs would use the big lead as an opportunity to play the rest of the bench throughout the rest of the game. A lot of younger Bulldogs players were able to get experience in a varsity game. Holt would also use the second half as an opportunity to build confidence for their starters. The Ironmen offense scored 18 second half points led by impressive performances from quarterback Jordan Driver and running back Tristin Hope. Driver would finish the game with two rushing touchdowns and a passing touchdown. Hope would also find the end zone in the second half. While Hope found yardage hard to come by most of the night, his hard running stood out throughout the game.
Both teams would accomplish their goals in the second half, Dora would get much needed experience for reserves and Holt was able to build some confidence for the rest of their season. Dora would have the advantage in total yards, 244-170. This may not seem impressive, but most of the Bulldogs offensive yards came in the first half. The Bulldogs defense has also been incredibly impressive in the early season as they forced 3 Ironmen turnovers. The Bulldogs defense have forced an outstanding 8 turnovers with 2 leading to defensive touchdowns in the first two games. The Bulldogs will be off next week but will return to being road warriors in two weeks as they will travel to Hanceville for the start of region play.