Bulldogs go to 1-0 in the North Division
BOONEVILLE --- The Holmes Community College Bulldogs picked up a key North Division win here Thursday night defeating the Northeast Mississippi Community College Tigers, 14-6.
With the win, the Bulldogs go to 1-3 overall and 1-0 in the North Division. Holmes hosts Northwest Thursday night in Goodman. You can listen to the game on the Bulldog Radio Network or watch live at holmesccmedia.com/white-channel.
After neither team could score during the first quarter, the Northeast Tigers put themselves in scoring position in the second quarter after a 35-yard punt return moved the ball to the Holmes 26 yard line. The Tiger offense ran three plays losing a yard back to Holmes 27 forcing a 44-yard field goal that went wide right.
Holmes took over from that point and mounted their first scoring drive of the night with 5:27 left in the half. Holmes picked up one first down on a 15-yard penalty on the Tigers to the Northeast 36. Holmes picked up a first down on fourth and one on a run by sophomore running back Terry Bryant to the Holmes 46. On second down from the Holmes 49, freshman running back Danny Woodard took a pitch from freshman quarterback Kyren Batey and raced 51 yards for the touchdown. Easton Curry's extra point was good, and Holmes led 7-0 just before halftime.
Northeast mounted their scoring drive with 11:14 to play in the third quarter. On the drive, the Bulldogs were called for two major penalties to help set the Tigers up at the Holmes two yard line where Northeast scored on a touchdown pass. The extra point was blocked by sophomore Dyrell Lyles, and Holmes led 7-6 with 5:21 left in the third.
The Bulldogs answered right back as freshman running back Devontaye Bankston carried the load for the Bulldogs. He ran the ball on four consecutive plays picking up 56 yards to the Northeast nine yard line. Batey ran once to the two before handing the ball off to Bryant, who scored from there. Curry's extra point was good, and Holmes led 14-6 with 2:09 left in the third.
Midway the fourth, the Bulldogs had a chance to score, but the Tiger defense stiffened and forced a 32-yard field goal by Curry, but it was no good.
Holmes finished with 242 rushing yards including 70 from Woodward on five carries, 65 from Bankston on eight carries, 38 from Bryant on 11 carries and 34 from Martavius Dill on five carries.
The Bulldog defense held the Tigers to 229 total yards (51 on the ground and 178 in the air). Sophomore linebacker Tyler McDaniel had 13 tackles including 5.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and two pass breakups. Rasson Carr and Jha'mauri Johnson each had eight tackles. Carr added three tackles for loss and two sacks while Johnson had two tackles for loss. Devlin Kirklin added an interception.
Holmes had 16 tackles for loss and six sacks with 67 total tackles.