The Wortham Bulldogs could play spoiler and after a valiant effort to try to tame the Dawson Bulldogs, Wortham went down to defeat at the hands of Dawson 28-12 at Wortham on Friday night.
The Wortham defense forced a season high four turnovers in the loss and transformed a couple of those turnovers into points.
Dawson took the ball first and marched into the Wortham side of the field and fumbled the ball. Evan Ray recovered the fumble and end the drive.
After Wortham turned it over near midfield, Dawson went to the running game. They picked up a first down and reached the Wortham 30 and then went to the air for rare passing yardage. Junior quarterback Brendan Horner four Kyle Motter for a 28-yard touchdown pass for the first points of the game.
Wortham took the first possession of the second half and were forced to punt. The punt was fumbled, and Will Coleman fell on it for the Wortham Bulldogs at the Dawson 24-yard line. Quarterback Brandon Coker had an eight-yard run to the 11. The drive stalled and on fourth down, Coker hit a wide-open K.J. Jackson for the five-yard touchdown pass. The run for two failed but Wortham cut into the lead at 7-6.
The Wortham Bulldogs recovered the kick and began their third possession of the third quarter with a Dawson play being run. The Wortham offense had to punt and Dawson went on offense. Zane Guerra ripped off a 17-yard run and on the fourth play of the drive, Horner ran in for a 14-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 14-6.
Following a short Wortham punt, Dawson took over at the Wortham 14-yard line. Two plays later Horner scored on an 11-yard run for the 21-6 Dawson lead.
Wortham had trouble hanging onto the ball and had to punt and Dawson went back to work. Guerra carried for the first eight yards, and then Horner ran three times, the final one for a 19-yard touchdown, his third of the night. The extra point kick put the score at 28-6.
Wortham took the ball at the 35-yard line for their final drive of the season. David Cortez had a couple of good runs to midfield. Coker ran for 18 and Cortez ran for nine to the Dawson 10. Coker ran for the score on a five-yard run to complete the nine-play drive and end the game with a 28-12 loss.
Mart defeated Frost to take the district title and the Polar Bears finished second. Dawson claimed the third-place spot thanks to their win over Hubbard earlier in district play. The Jaguars took the final spot and Meridian and Wortham did not qualify.
(Photos by Jennifer Lansford)
