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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2021
WBHS offense sputters in loss to Eastside
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barro wne wsj ournal. com
For a moment early in the third quarter
Friday night, Aug. 27, Winder-Barrow
had the momentum blowing its way.
Junior Aidan Thompson had just
blocked an Eastside punt out of the end
zone for a safety to cut the Bulldoggs’
deficit down to two points and give them
the ball with a chance to regain the lead.
But Winder-Barrow’s offense couldn’t get
anything going, and the Eagles promptly
extended their lead on a long touchdown
run by senior running back Dallas John
son and seized control of the game from
there en route to a 20-8 season-opening
win at W. Clair Harris Stadium.
It was the second year in a row that
Eastside (1-0), the ninth-ranked team in
GHSA Class 5A, opened its season with
a victory in Winder and the second year
in a row the Bulldoggs were torched by
Johnson, the talented stalwart with mul
tiple Division I offers under his belt who
finished with 212 yards on 30 carries —
a year after he ran for 250 yards on 28
touches on the same field.
Meanwhile, the Bulldoggs (1-1) strug
gled mightily on offense throughout the
night, particularly in the run game where
they were held to just 16 yards by a stout
Eagle defense.
“(Johnson is a) good back, and credit
to Eastside. They played really well to
night,” Winder-Barrow coach Ed Dudley
said after Friday’s loss. “We just never
really got our offense on track tonight,
and to win we’ve got to find a way to put
points on the board.”
After the safety made it a 10-8 game
with 9:15 left in the third quarter, Wind
er-Barrow went three-and-out and the
Eagles put together a 74-yard scoring
drive as Johnson slithered through a hole
on a third down-and-2 play and raced 41
yards into the end zone to put his team
ahead 17-8 with 4:30 left in the quarter.
The Bulldoggs fumbled it away on their
next possession, then recovered a fumble
of their own but couldn’t take advantage
of Eastside’s red zone miscue. The Ea
gles would tack on three more points in
the fourth quarter on Rodney Williams’
41-yard field goal.
Of Winder-Barrow’s 153 total yards for
the night, over half of them came on the
Bulldoggs’ second drive of the game.
Following a more than hour-long
weather delay that took effect less than
four minutes into the game, Eastside
came out of the locker room and took an
early 3-0 lead on a 37-yard field goal by
Williams. But the Bulldoggs responded
with an 80-yard touchdown drive, fueled
by three big passes from junior quarter
back Conyer Smith — first a 15-yarder
to Tyreeck Hall, then a 37-yard comple
tion to Tre Gaudlock then a quick slant
to Trevor Summerfield on third-and-long
that went for a 21-yard touchdown that
put the Doggs ahead 6-3 with 1:25 left in
the first quarter.
Winder-Barrow’s Daniel Pineda recov
ered an Eastside fumble at the Eagles’ 34
on the ensuing possession, but the Bull
doggs couldn’t cash in on the opportunity
as they moved only six yards before turn
ing the ball over on downs.
A little more than midway through the
second quarter, the Eagles got a 19-yard
punt return to the Winder-Barrow 38 and
took less than three minutes to grab the
lead back from the Bulldoggs. The key
play came on fourth-and-1 from the 29
when Johnson ran up the gut from 11
yards, and Kenal Grier finished off the
drive with a 4-yard touchdown run two
plays later.
Smith finished 8-of-20 for 137 yards
and the touchdown pass to lead Wind
er-Barrow’s offensive effort, but the lack
of rushing production kept the Bulldoggs
unbalanced and prevented them from
sustaining any drives other than the one
that ended with Summerfield’s TD grab.
“We had no run game, and that predi
cates our passing game, so it really ham
pered us,” Dudley said. “I really have no
explanation. We were not in sync tonight.
...We’ve got to go back to the drawing
board and get better.”
E 3 7 7 3 — 20
W 6 0 2 0 — 8
E—Rodney Williams 37 field goal
W—Trevor Summerfield 21 pass from
Conyer Smith (kick failed)
E—Kenal Grier 4 run (Williams kick)
W—Safety
E—Dallas Johnson 41 run (Williams
kick)
E—Williams 41 field goal
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