Sweet Water’s Bulldogs fall to Thomasville, 24-6

THOMASVILLE – Following his head coaching debut Friday night, Sweet Water High School’s Pat Thompson gave a mixed report card on his Bulldogs after a 24-6 setback at the hands of Thomasville High.

“I thought we played well at times,” Thompson said. “We just didn’t sustain any drives on offense. We’ve definitely got to get better at sustaining drives.”

Interestingly, Sweet Water finished its first drive of the night, as the Bulldogs took the opening kickoff at their own 29 and marched 71 yards for the game’s first score. The highlight of the drive was a 51-yard Branson Davis-to-Eric Jenkins pass to the Thomasville 17.

Moments later, Davis plunged in from the one on a quarterback sneak, but a low snap led to a failed PAT attempt.

Thomasville responded on its first offensive possession, going 59 yards to knot the score on Alexander White’s three-yard run late in the first. Thomasville’s extra point attempt sailed wide left, leaving the score knotted at 6-6 after one period of play.

In the second, Thomasville took the lead on a 19-yard Chad Bryant-to-Sammy Jackson touchdown pass, and quickly followed that score with a nine-yard Wil Brasell run to increase the Tiger lead to 18-6.

On the ensuing kickoff, Jenkins gave Sweet Water life with a 52-yard return to the THS 31, but the drive ultimately ended when Davis’ fourth-and-goal pass into the end zone fell incomplete.

Although the score remained 18-6 until late in the contest, the third quarter was not without excitement. A Thomasville fumble recovery at the Sweet Water one-yard line set the stage for the Bulldog defensive highlight of the evening, as the SWHS defense stopped Thomasville on four successive running plays to thwart the threat.

“Our guys really gutted it out right there,” said Thompson. “We challenged them during a time out and they responded. We had challenged them at halftime, and they came out and played better on defense in the second half.”

The game’s final touchdown came with 1:37 to play when Brasell again hit paydirt, this time from seven yards out.

Jenkins led the Sweet Water ground attack with 56 yards on 17 carries. Through the air, Davis was 2-of-13 for 54 yards. “We are going to throw it as much as we need to,” Thompson said of the traditionally ground oriented Bulldog offense. “Our game plan definitely was to throw the ball.”

Sweet Water is off next week, while Thomasville travels to Demopolis.