Wicksburg defense strong in opening win

Wicksburg scored on its first possession of both halves and its defense kept Geneva County in check except for one pass play Friday, sparking a 14-8 Panther win over the Bulldogs at Panther Stadium in the season opener for both teams.

Wicksburg drove 89 yards in 10 plays to score on the game’s opening possession then Cody Smith’s 56-yard run set up a score on the Panthers’ first series of the second half for a 14-0 lead.

Geneva County scored on a 61-yard catch and run on the following series, but the Panther defense allowed only two first downs in the Bulldogs’ final three series to hang on.

“It was a physical game just like we knew it would be,” Wicksburg head coach Donny Gillilan said. “They did a good job with their boys and our boys fought hard too.

“The guys are learning to fight and finish a ball game, which is something we struggled with last year, so maybe we are starting to turn the corner a little bit on that.”

Though disappointed at losing, Geneva County head coach Jeff Caldwell was pleased with his team’s effort.

“The kids played hard,” Caldwell said. “We didn’t execute a lot of things very well, but some of that was Wicksburg not letting us execute. It seemed like we couldn’t sustain anything. Every time we would get something going, we would shoot ourselves in the foot or something of that nature.”

In one of the game’s biggest turning points, Wicksburg’s defense held out Geneva County inside the 10 in the final seconds of the first half.

Sparked by a 25-yard run off a fake punt by Nick Carroll, a 12-yard run by Rico Lawson and a 12-yard pass by Lewis Carroll to Karon White, the Bulldogs moved to the 15 with 13.5 seconds left.

An interference call on Wicksburg pushed it to the 7 with 9.6 seconds left. Two incompletions followed, setting up third down with just 0.6 seconds left.

Bulldog quarterback Lewis Carroll dropped back to pass, but never had a chance as Jerod Maddox came flying in on the back side and sacked him to end the half.

“Looking back at it, that was certainly big,” Caldwell said. “We had our chances and some opportunities. We just didn’t execute what we are supposed to execute.”

Despite a lot of missed tackles, a swarming and pursuing Panther defense allowed only 204 total yards with 61 of it coming on one play.

“We have to tackle better,” Gillilan said. “In the second half, we tackled better. In the first half, we didn’t tackle well. We were hitting a bit and making contact in good places, but not finishing on tackles.

“The pursuit was good. The effort was there. You can’t fault them in the effort.”

Wicksburg’s offense came out rolling to start the game, mixing inside runs by Adam Fox with outside runs by Tyler Dawkins to move down the field. Fox had runs of 11 and 9 yards up the middle and Dawkins 12 and 9 on the outside.

Three Geneva County penalties, totaling 31 yards, also keyed the drive, which Dawkins polished off on a 4-yard touchdown run off right end.

Smith added the point after to make it 7-0 with 6:56 to go in the quarter.

The Panthers, after making their late first-half stop, padded the lead on their opening drive of the second half.

Starting at the 20, Smith ripped off a 13-yard run and Fox had an 11 yarder before Smith took a handoff through a small hole on the left side then quickly jetted out to the right where there was open daylight. He raced down the right side before being tackled by Geneva County’s White at the 4, but not after a 56-yard run.

Dawkins then took a sweep off to the right into the end zone for the touchdown. Smith’s point after made it 14-0.

The Bulldogs answered three plays later on 3 rd -and-6 when Lewis Carroll lofted a soft pass in the right flat to White, who caught it as a Panther defender fell down behind him. White had nothing but green grass down the sideline to complete a 61-yard catch and run touchdown.

Nick Carroll added a two-point conversion, scoring on a reverse, to make it 14-8 with 3:13 left in the third.

Geneva County, though, couldn’t do much in its final three series, never reaching past its 30.

The Bulldog defense contained Wicksburg for most of the night. Outside of the two scoring drives, the Panthers had only three first downs in eight possessions. The Panthers finished the game with 220 yards, 169 on the two scoring drives.

Smith was a highlight, though, for Wicksburg, finishing with 95 yards on 11 carries.

Rico Lawson led the Bulldog offense with 67 yards rushing on 10 carries. T.J. Greene added 60 yards on 13 carries.

Wicksburg punter Lake Genard also had a good night, punting five times for 38.4 yard average with three punts of 40 yards or better.

 “We knew it would be a tough game,” Wicksburg’s Gillilan said. “They have some good athletes, but I thought our kids stepped up and fought hard.

“We just have to cut down the mistakes as we had some things kill drives. We are still inexperienced, but experience is a great teacher.”

Geneva County’s Caldwell had a similar sentiment about his team.

“We had a lot of young kids play,” Caldwell said. “It was the first time a lot of them has played on a varsity football field. I was proud of the effort. I thought our kids fought for 48 minutes. We will line up and get better for next week.”

Wicksburg goes into region play at Providence Christian, while Geneva County hosts Alabama School for the Deaf, a game added to the schedule in place of J.F. Shields, which dropped football.