Sports

The Dodge County Indians played their hearts out in Thomasville against the sixth ranked Bulldogs Friday night. Dodge played its most complete game of the season against one of the toughest opponents it has faced this year.
Dodge kicked off to start the game and Mason Mangham’s squib kick was bobbled allowing Javon McNeal to level the return man at the Thomasville 17 yard line. That set the tone early for what would be a very physical football game with big hits on both sides. On first down, Daylon Gordon pressured the quarterback forcing an incompletion. A second down offsides penalty against Dodge and a short third down pass gave Thomasville a fresh set of downs. Noah Cummings and Jamal Mahan combined to stop the runner after a short gain on first down. Mahan stopped the quarterback for a short gain on second down. On third down, Cummings, Mahan and AJ Melvin combined to stop the quarterback short of the first down forcing a Thomasville punt that rolled dead at the Dodge 17 yard line.
Two runs by Daylon Gordon netted -1 yard. On third down, Cummings who was playing tight end was open for what looked like a big gain, but Hunter Kirkley’s pass was a little behind him. Cummings twisted but couldn’t hang on to the ball. In Kirkley’s defense, Cummings was not exactly where Kirkley expected him to be. Timmy Johnson drove the return man back as his punt sailed 49 yards in the air. A big return was negated by a block in the back by Thomasville who would start at its own 24 yard line.
The two teams would trade punts before Thomasville finally got on the scoreboard first. After a 37 yarder by Timmy Johnson and a nice return, Thomasville started at its own 46 yard line. Thomasville immediately went to the air and was able to drive to the Dodge one yard line where they were met with a goal line stand by the Indians. Thomasville would bring in its starting middle linebacker to take direct snaps as they like to do in short yardage. Cummings managed to get into the backfield on first down and grab the runner by the ankles for no gain. On second down, the runner dropped the snap and Cummings stood him up for a host of Indians to finish off. The ball now sat at the Dodge two yard line. Thomasville rolled the quarterback out for a short pass on third down, but Gordon got a hand on the pass to tip it away bringing up fourth and goal. Thomasville would settle for a field goal and a 3-0 lead.
Dodge would waste no time putting up a score of its own. Gordon fielded the kickoff and ran up the middle behind a wedge of blockers where McNeal leveled a defender opening a hole for Gordon to run through. Gordon made a defender miss around the Thomasville 46 yard line and took it all the way to the Thomasville seven yard line where Thomasville’s athletic kicker had the angle on him. There was also a great effort by Kevin Sykes, Jr. who shielded the kicker for the last 45 yards as the kicker ran diagonally and away from Sykes. It looked like Gordon would cut off Sykes block and score, but he was unable to as he was also having to outrun another defender with an angle. On the next play, Gordon took a direct snap and tried to run right where he was stood up at the line, but Gordon kept his feet moving and bounced it back to the middle where he scored easily. Mangham’s extra point made it 7-3 Dodge.
Thomasville would come back strong as they scored two touchdowns in the first half to take a 17-7 lead aided by a Dodge County turnover on a muffed punt. That would be the score at half, and Dodge had to be confident going in at halftime only down 10 on the road against a one seed.
Dodge got the ball on its own 20 yard line to start the second half after a touchback. Dodge went three and out, and Timmy Johnson’s 34 yard punt was fair caught by Thomasville at its 45 yard line. The Dodge Defense held highlighted by Nathan Coley deflecting a pass intended for Thomasville’s Ricardo Johnson who was running free down the middle. It would be one of the few times Dodge was able to defend Johnson who finished with four catches for 119 yards and three touchdowns. After the Thomasville punt, Dodge would get the ball at its own 22 yard line. A first down pass lost one yard, and a second down pass was incomplete. Then Kirkley rolling right and under heavy pressure threw up a ball that Tyrese Johnson was able to stop and come back to for a 19 yard completion out to the Dodge 30 yard line. Dodge could not get another first down, and Timmy Johnson got off a 35 yard punt that was muffed but recovered by Thomasville at its own 48 yard line. Coley jumped a hitch route on first down and was a fraction of a second away from an interception, on which he would have scored. Cummings dropped the runner after a gain of three yards on second down. Keldrick Beck made a nice open field tackle after a gain of two yards on third down to force another Thomasville punt. Dodge’s Defense was hanging tough in spite of being without its leading tackler and fourth leading tackler on the season. The Dodge Offense was contributing very little, and Thomasville was winning the field position battle as a result. The Thomasville punt drove Coley back to the Dodge eight yard line where he made a fair catch.
The momentum was about to swing big in Dodge’s favor. Gordon took a handoff running right without a lot of blocking. The defensive end knifed inside and ran past Gordon. Landynn Powers pulled and made a good block on an outside linebacker. Noah Pace blocked an inside linebacker. [Full Story »]