COVINGTON, Ga. — In the team’s first Region 8-AAAAA matchup of the season, the Alcovy Tigers fell at home Thursday night to the Winder-Barrow Bulldoggs 42-7.
Ultimately, it was the Bulldoggs’ defense that played the biggest part in Thursday’s game as Tigers were held scoreless until five minutes were left in the game.
Going into the game, the Tigers were without running back Nick Slidell, who was the team’s leader in all-purpose yards.
Without their lead back, head coach Spencer Fortson was still pleased with what he saw from the other parts of Alcovy’s offense.
“The main thing is we are seeing what we can do offensively,” Fortson said. “With Nick being out this week we are seeing who would be the next guy to step up at running back. We did a running back by committee tonight. We were able to throw the ball around so we could see about some of the guys we had on the outside. Ashton Hawkins and Kaeden Booker — those guys did good for us on the outside. Kavion Sutton came in and he was slinging the ball around.”
Despite the final score, the Tigers started the game off hot with a promising drive. Alcovy drove down to within the 10-yard line and took six minutes off the clock before being stopped on fourth down for a turnover on downs.
After the stop by the Winder-Barrow defense, the Bulldoggs put themself in control for the remainder of the contest.
Before Winder-Barrow quarterback began to catch fire through the air, running back Demetrius Dowdy marched the Bulldoggs’ offense downfield before running in for a 10-yard touchdown.
Late in the opening quarter, Hodge went to the air and connected with sophomore London Munoz for a 16-yard touchdown.
On the final drive of the first half for Winder-Barrow, Hodge took the offense down the field in the final seconds before connecting again on a touchdown pass over the middle.
The score put Winder-Barrow ahead 22-0 going into intermission.
Following a halftime ceremony in which Alcovy revealed its 2024 homecoming court, the Bulldoggs kept the momentum in the second half.
Despite almost losing the ball on the kickoff after a fumble went out of bounds, the Bulldoggs marched once again.
This time, it resulted in a quarterback keeper from Hodge to put Winder-Barrow atop 28-0.
On one of the first plays of the final quarter, Hodge went for Munoz again.
In double coverage, Munoz leaped and made a one-handed grab over both defenders while keeping a foot inbounds for a Bulldoggs touchdown.
With five minutes left in the contest, Winder-Barrow capped off another long drive with a one-yard jet sweep touchdown from Grayson Engel to make it a 42-0 lead.
The Tigers got their lone touchdown of the night late in the fourth quarter.
After a leaping grab from Kaeden Booker set up Alcovy in Bulldoggs territory, quarterback Kavion Sutton connected with Ashton Hawkins on a 29-yard touchdown pass.
Missed opportunities for the Tigers
Early on, the Tigers came out on the short end of a few promising scoring drives.
With the Bulldoggs marching into the red zone, the Tigers capitalized on a Winder-Barrow fumble with a recovery by Sincere Jackson.
However, the Tigers’ offense coughed the ball back up a few plays later to give Winder-Barrow the ball back. This later resulted in Hodge’s first passing touchdown to Munoz.
On an early punt, Booker took the return all the way in for a Tigers’ score, but the play was called back due to a block in the back penalty.
Late in the first half, Booker had another chance for a punt return and struck big again with a long return that set the Tigers up deep into Winder-Barrow territory.
But, the Tigers were held to a quick three-and-out, which led to a 45-yard field goal from Destin Cochran that fell just short.
Following the game, Fortson took time to praise Booker, who made key plays on all levels for the Tigers on Thursday.
“Booker is one of our best athletes on the team,” Fortson said. “We can always depend on him. He stepped up tonight on special teams. He stepped up tonight on offense. He stepped up tonight on defense. He is a guy that we depend on to make big plays. He is a guy we lean on to get the team riled up. He has been a starter for us since his freshman year. He has the capability to continue to grow and to continue to help our team grow as well.”
UP NEXT
Following the game, Fortson spoke with The Covington News in regards to Slidell’s availability in Alcovy’s week 7 game.
“We didn’t want to rush Nick back,” Fortson said. “We know this is our first region game, but want to make sure he is able to finish the region. We didn’t want to rush him back tonight, we are going to continue with rehab and Ty, our trainer, will make sure he is doing the necessary things he needs to do so he can be ready to go if need be by next week.”
After falling to 1-4 on the season with a 0-1 record in region play, the Tigers will go on the road in another Region 8-AAAAA matchup with Jackson County Friday, Sept. 27.
