Bulldogs win ‘ugly’ in trip to LaGrange

With an even record and still plenty of chances left in the season to cement their status statewide in 4A football, the Cedartown Bulldogs still have some kinks to work out before the regular season ends.

Sitting at 3-3 (1-1 5-4A,) the Bulldogs on paper are a real contender, with backfield threats like Tony Mathis and Kobe Pryor. And though they made an impact in the statistics last week, the offensive leaders found themselves still unable to push across the goal line as much as head coach Doyle Kelley would like.

With an early trip to LaGrange on last Thursday giving the Bulldogs a small break over the weekend before returning to work Monday after press time, Kelley said he had two goals in mind before the team has another challenger coming to the Bulldogs’ home turf.

“We have got to get more consistency on the offensive line, and when we get down to the 10 yard line, we’ve got to score,” Kelley said.

The early trip to face region foe the LaGrange Grangers on a long bus ride south resulted with the Bulldogs’ first region win 9-6, but not without some troubles.

Kelley said the Grangers defense were “a tough bunch” and played Cedartown well, but his team has to do more.

The Bulldogs managed a touchdown and a safety over the Grangers’ pair of field goals where the offense got close a number of times, but couldn’t get the points on the board.

Taji Hudson completed 7 of 14 passes for 105 yards against the LaGrange defense including the lone touchdown between the Bulldogs quarterback and Pryor for 20 yards in the first quarter.

Mathis and Pryor combined for 250 yards total on the night.

Kelley said a lot of the lean yardage in the game came as a result of giving his team chances to score on fourth down in the red zone, but then not coming away with points. He’s debated going for field goals instead, but hasn’t been ready to give up and go for 3 just yet.

“It was ugly, but it was a win,” Kelley said. So what he seeks instead is finalizing positions on the offensive line, and pushing his team in practice to make big plays when they get down to the goal line.

He’ll have a couple of more days to complete that task ahead of this Friday’s home game and the celebration of alumni night.

The Bulldogs host the Central Carroll Lions (2-4, 1-1 5-4A,) who lost to Rockmart 51-7 in the second game of the season and fell to Cartersville 45-10 last Friday on the road.