Appling defeates Dodge, 42-7

By Joey Marchant
Dodge County limped down U.S. 341 to Baxley where they were soundly defeated by the Appling County Pirates by a score of 42-7. Dodge hit the road without head coach Ken Cofer who was not eligible to travel with the team this week due to having been ejected from the game against West Laurens due to the team receiving two sideline infractions in that game.
The Indians were also without the following starters: Caleb Fluellen, Colby Lee, Cameron Gooch, Timmy Johnson and Jamerius Hines. Additionally, Noah Cummings would leave the game in the first quarter and Tyrese Johnson would leave at halftime. Still credit must be given to Appling County who is a very good football team and will make some noise in AAA this year.
Dodge would come out strong on defense as they held Appling to three and out highlighted by Tyrese Johnson dropping the running back for a 12 yard loss on a toss sweep.
Dodge took the ball at its on 47 yard line. A jet sweep by Mikhail Carr gained nine yards. A jet sweep by Carr the opposite way gained eight yards. Daylon Gordon would later score on a 22 yard run, but it was called back for an obvious block in the back. On third down and 14, Harpe got six yards back with a pass to Keldrick Beck. That left Dodge with 4th down and eight yards to go at the Appling 24 yard line, which was just outside of field goal range. Harpe threw an interception in the end zone resulting in a touchback.
Appling fullback RJ Conaway carried for 24 yards, 8 yards and 39 yards. After getting a breather, Conaway came back in to score from five yards out. The extra point gave Appling a 7-0 lead.
Dodge would take possession at its own 21 yard line when two players collided trying to field the kickoff. A screen pass to Gordon gained 13 yards but was called back for holding. From his own nine yard line, Gordon took a handoff and finding nothing inside bounced it outside for a 43 yard run to the Appling 48 yard line. The Dodge Offense stalled there, and Mason Mangham punted for 31 yards to the Appling 15 yard line.
Elisha Williams stuffed the run on first down, and Kane Northcutt stuffed the run on second down. However, Appling came back with a trick play of sorts on third down. They lined up in an unbalanced line meaning they took an offensive lineman from the right side and moved him over to the left side. This left an eligible receiver lined up in a three point where the right offensive tackle would normally line up. The receiver released inside and cleared the linebackers and safety without notice as the quarterback faked the handoff and bootlegged left hitting the receiver for a 32 yard gain before Beck caught up with him. Later in the drive, Appling went for the end zone where the pass bounced off an Appling receiver being defended by Beck and into the arms of Nathan Coley who returned it to the 23 yard line before a block in the back on the return brought it back to the Dodge 14 yard line.
Dodge could not move the football, but Mangham got off a nice 43 yard punt. On 3rd down and very long, Appling Quarterback Jeremiah Holmes rolled right where Williams and Jamal Mahan did a good job of containing and turning the quarterback inside. However, the help was not there from the inside, and Holmes cut back for a 63 yard gain before Coley brought him down around the Dodge 12 yard line. After being backed up by a penalty, Holmes threw a 26 yard touchdown pass. The extra point made it 14-0 Appling.
On the ensuing drive, Harpe would complete passes of 12 yards to Tyrese Johnson and 12 yards to Kevin Sykes. However, the Dodge Offense would again stall. Mangham punted for 36 yards to the Appling 10 yard line.
Appling had consecutive runs of 34, 34 and 20 yards for a touchdown. The extra point made it 21-0 Appling.
Tyrese Johnson returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. The extra point cut the Appling lead to 21-7. However, Appling returned the ensuing kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown of its own. The extra point gave Appling a 28-7 lead, which it would take into halftime.
Appling would shut Dodge out in the second half adding two more touchdowns for the 42-7 victory. Appling outgained Dodge in the game by a total of 501 yards to 140 yards.
Dodge falls to 1-2 on the year, losing consecutive games for the first time since September 2016, and will travel to Fitzgerald to face the Purple Hurricane on September 20th at 7:30 pm. Hopefully, Dodge can get some of its injured players back and perform well against Fitzgerald so that it can begin Region Play the following week with some momentum. Fitzgerald is 3-1. Dodge defeated Fitzgerald in Eastman last year by a score of 28-9.