Boiling Springs trailed by two touchdowns at the end of the first quarter on Friday night but it was a strong effort by their defense and some timely scoring that saw them make a tremendous comeback to defeat Greenwood 27-24.
"I told the guys at halftime the difference in the game was the first eight minutes of the game," said Bulldogs head coach Rick Tate. "Once we settled down we were able to get back into the game." The Bulldogs, ranked 10th in the latest media 5A poll, gave up a twelve yard touchdown run to Greenwood's Jaylin Tolbert and a fourteen yard touchdown run to Brett Spearman to fall behind 14-0 when the horn sounded for the end of the first quarter of play. Boiling Springs got their comeback started on the first play of the second quarter when senior quarterback Jalen Dodd found senior wide receiver Tedron Barber down the middle of the field for a thirty-seven yard touchdown pass to put the score at 14-7. Greenwood added a thirty-nine yard field goal to put the halftime score at 17-7 but did have a kick blocked as the halftime buzzer sounded that was returned to the Greenwood side of the field by Boiling Springs senior safety Dre Pinckney as it was one block away from being a touchdown return. With just under nine minutes to go in the third quarter Greenwood had worked their way to the Boiling Springs twenty-seven yard line when pressure by the Bulldogs defensive front caused the Eagles to fumble the ball which was then scooped up by senior defensive tackle Ethan Rennels and returned seventy-three yards for a touchdown to put the score at 17-14 in favor of Greenwood. Rennels gave credit to his teammates for helping him with coming up with the score on the return. "I appreciate my teammates for getting out there and blocking for me," said Rennels. "If it hadn't been for them I wouldn't have scored." Coach Tate said he was happy that Rennels hard work had gotten rewarded with that touchdown. ""We had to give him a little break after that long run," said Tate with a laugh. "That was great for him because he has been working hard as he just gets better every week and is really occupying the middle of that defense." Just over two minutes later after an interception by Bulldogs senior safety Caden Sullivan, his sixth of the season, Boiling Springs took their first lead of the game when Dodd found Barber on a thirty-four yard slant route to put the Bulldogs up 21-17. Tolbert found the endzone again for Greenwood when he ran in from nine yards out to retake the lead for the Eagles at 24-21 just two minutes into the fourth quarter. After the score Boiling Springs put together another offensive drive that started with a catch by Brent Fowler from Dodd down the right side of the field that saw many Eagles defenders unable to take him down to the ground. Running back Charles McFadden picked up a seven yard gain before Dodd went back to Fowler again, this time on twenty-one yard touchdown pass to give Boiling Springs a 27-24 lead with eight minutes left in the game. With the game on the line the Boiling Springs defense made two great defensive stands on fourth downs as the first one came with just over five minutes to go at the Boiling Springs forty-seven yard line when junior linebacker Jaylin Jones sacked the Greenwood quarterback to turn the ball over to the Bulldogs. The next play came at the Boiling Springs twenty-two yard line with just over two minutes to go when pressure by the front seven caused a fumble that was recovered by senior defensive lineman Caleb Mobley to once again give the ball back to the Bulldogs. "Our defense has really come a long way in the last three weeks," said Tate. "The defensive line is just getting a whole lot better and when you have four guys up front that can control the gaps like they can it frees up your other guys up to be able to do a lot more." Rennels said that the team felt like they had something to prove in the second half after their first half performance. "We came out slow in the first half and just looked like we didn't want to be here," said Rennels. "Coach Tate came to us and that just woke us up. We know we're the best defense out there we just got to start playing like it the whole game." As the defense took control of the ball again the offense needed to just make one first down to seal the game and on second down with eight yards to go Dodd broke a run down the right side for twenty-eight yards to seal the victory for the Bulldogs. Tate says that the play of Dodd and others has been big as they make the plays when they're needed. "When we needed a play back there Jalen found a way to make it happen," said Tate. "I'm really proud of Boyce Waters as he got thrown in the fire tonight and done a good job for us on the offensive line. Tedron Barber and Brent Fowler have came up with some big catches for us this season and especially tonight. We were down some people tonight and we just had some guys step up and make some plays." Boiling Springs will return to action on Friday night as they host Greer for their final home game of the regular season. Comments are closed.
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