Davenport’s Bulldogs used a strong rushing attack and some clutch passing to nip Regent Prep 32-31 and capture the District title last Friday night.
Undefeated on the season at 10-0, the Bulldogs host Yale Friday night in the first round of the playoffs. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Bulldog stadium. They defeated Yale 52-6 earlier in the season.
Capturing the district title ensures the Bulldogs of home field advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Davenport Coach John Greenfield said Monday, “You wouldn’t believe how crazy it was.”
He said, “We played pretty well. Just messed up on our two-point conversions. Other than that, and a bad direct snap on a punt that gave them the ball inside our 10-yard line, we played really well.”
The Rams struck first late in the opening quarter on a 46-yard pass play. The extra point kick was good and they took a 7-0 lead.
Davenport’s Colton Van Fossen scored on an eight-yard run to pull the Bulldogs within a point, but the conversion attempt failed and Regent Prep was still ahead 7-6.
The Rams scored twice in the second period. They got on the board again with a 19-yard TD pass and did it again with a pass covering the same distance to move in front 19-6.
But with less than a half minute to play in the opening half, Davenport’s Griffin Melson scored on an eight-yard run. The conversion attempt failed and the Bulldogs trailed 19-12 at intermission.
After a scoreless third quarter, Davenport found the end zone three times in the final period and held the Rams to a pair of touchdowns.
Their first TD of the quarter pulled them within a point at 19-18, and a few minutes later Acord ran it in from a yard out to give the Bulldogs the lead for good. Acord hooked up with Casey Harrelson for the two-point conversion and the Bulldogs led 26-19.
Regent Prep countered with a touch down making it 26-25, but Davenport answered when Acord scampered 40 yards for a TD, moving the Bulldogs ahead 32-25.
The Rams scored on a TD pass but the conversion attempt failed and Davenport prevailed, 32-31.
Davenport rushed for 277 yards and Accord hit 7 of 19 passes for 72 more yards.
Melson led the Bulldogs rushing attack with 118 yards on 13 carries. Parker Mitchell added 64 yards while carrying the ball seven times and Acord ran the ball 15 times for 49 yards.
Van Fossen had 34 yards on five carries and Cole Yancey carried the ball four times gaining 11 yards.