The Wortham Bulldogs clinched the third-place spot in District 10-2A Division II with a dominating win over the Chilton Pirates 52-3 in the final home game behind the walls of historic Bulldog Stadium.
The Bulldog win over Chilton is the first since 1997 and the importance of win was evident to keep from falling into a tie and losing ground. Mart and Bremond are the only two losses in district play so the Bulldogs would have all tiebreakers, but the win took the tie out of playing the playoff clinching win.
Chilton took the first possession and quickly moved inside Bulldog 20, aided by two penalties on the Bulldog defense. Defensive lineman James Johnson ripped the ball away from the Pirate offense and took over inside the five.
The second Chilton possession ended with a 43-yard field goal attempt that Cesar Sanchez missed to the right. The first quarter ended in a scoreless tie.
The Bulldogs began a drive to end the first quarter and moved downfield. Senior quarterback Jon Ross Black completed a 24-yard pass to Lance Jones and senior running back Kymani Johnson finished the drive with a 31-yard burst for the score. He also had the conversion run for the early 8-0 second quarter lead.
A short Chilton punt put the Bulldogs at the Pirate 25. Jones caught two more passes to the ten and the final pass completion to Johnson covering six yards midway through the second quarter. The pass for two was no good and the Bulldogs led 14-0.
Chilton turned their next possession into their only points of the game. The Pirates needed nine plays to position for a 37 yard Sanchez field goal and cut the lead to 14-3.
The Bulldog offense has reverted from a running team into a passing team over the last two weeks, with ten touchdown passes, including a school record six from Black on Friday night.
Wortham passed for a touchdown in the final minute. Black passed to James Johnson that covered ten yards, and the Bulldogs held a 20-3 halftime lead.
The Bulldogs scored in hightlight fashion on the first play of the second half. Black dropped back to pass and hit Lance Jones for a seven-yard connection. He had his back toward the opposite end zone and pitched to a full-speed Kymani Johnson, who completed the famed hook-and-lateral and the 69-yard score. The pass for two failed and the lead grew to 26-3.
Kymani Johnson picked off a Nate Wuebker pass and took over at their own nine-yard line. Jesse Saldana ran for 13 and a first down, then Black found Kymani Johnson for the long touchdown connection, 78 yards for the score and the 32-3 lead.
The Bulldog defense got a defensive stop and set up for another third quarter score. Cameron King caught a 37-yard pass inside the Pirate 20 and James Johnson finished this drive with a 10-yard catch for the touchdown and the 38-3 lead following the missed conversion.
The Chilton offense could not move past midfield and the Bulldogs marched downfield for a score in the fourth quarter. Yancey Bean caught a 28-yard pass and the next four plays, all Bulldog runs ended with Black scoring on a nine yard run. The conversion failed and the Bulldog lead grew to 44-3.
Black clinched the school passing for touchdowns in the fourth quarter on a 13-yard pass to Bean and Evan McCoslin scored the conversion and the final score of 52-3.
Mart, Bremond and Wortham have all clinched spots, and Goldthwaite can take the final spot with a win or a Frost loss.
(Photos by Jennifer Lansford)
