Sweet Water survives late Leroy surge
BY JEREMY SELLERS
Special to The Watchman
LEROY — The Sweet Water Bulldogs dominated early but had to fight late to hold on to knock off Leroy 28-25.
Sweet Water maintained a 28-0 late in the third quarter, but the Bears used a third quarter touchdown and three fourth quarter touchdowns to claw their way back into the game.
The Bulldogs used 354 yards of total offense while Leroy had 270 yards on the night.
Eric Jenkins led the Bulldogs in their ground attack as he racked up 180 yards of offense.
Leroy Quarterback Chase Warren led the Bears on the night as he went 23-43 passing with 258 yards and four touchdowns.
“I thought our guys fought hard tonight and earned a big region win,” Sweet Water head coach Pat Thompson said. “We have got to get back in practice and work on a few things next week and get ready to continue region play.”
Sweet Water started the scoring at the 11:55 mark in the second quarter when Jenkins found the end zone. Their extra point attempt was blocked, leaving the score at 6-0.
With 5:55 left before halftime, Xavier McIntosh busted up the gut for a one-yard touchdown run to extend the Sweet Water lead. A two-point conversion run from Jenkins put the Bulldogs up 14-0.
McIntosh added another score just before halftime, this time from two yards out. With the P.A.T., Sweet Water led 21-0 at the break.
Keldric Greene joined the scoring for the Bulldogs with 4:57 left in the third quarter. He scored on a run around left end from nine yards out. The extra point extended Sweet Waters lead to 28-0.
Leroy got their first score at the 2:15 mark in the third quarter when Warren hooked up with Marcus Anderson on a 27 yard connection to the corner of the end zone. Devin Washington nailed the P.A.T. to cut Sweet Water’s lead to 28-7.
The Bears kept fighting as they added another score at the 9:47 mark of the 4th quarter. Warren found Denzel Woodard from 12 yards out to make the score 28-13.
After the Bears recovered an onside kick, Tyrell Mitchell was the next target for Warren as he scored on a three-yard pass connection. Leroy’s two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the score at 28-19 in favor of Sweet Water.
After forcing Sweet Water to turn the ball over on downs, Leroy quickly got back into the end zone. This time, Warren hooked up with Daylon Rivers from 28 yards out on fourth down. The extra point failed, leaving the score at what would be the final of 28-25.
“I thought we fought hard to climb back into the game and hopefully we can use some of this momentum going into next week,” Leroy head coach Jason Massey said.
Sweet Water (4-2, 3-1 2A Region 1) will host Southern Choctaw, who lost to St. Luke’s on Friday night 19-7. Leroy (4-2, 3-1 2A Region 1) will play host to Washington County next week.