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Winterboro too much for 'Dega

Monday, August 29, 2011

Josh Taylor follows Tae Gray. (Daily Home)

TALLADEGA — Josh Taylor and the Winterboro Bulldogs proved that last season’s victory over Talladega wasn’t a fluke. The Bulldogs scored 22 unanswered points to defeat Talladega 30-16 on Friday at Mary Dumas Stadium.

“It is a big win,” Winterboro head coach Adam Fossett said. “Coming in we knew the number game like we said in the paper before. Talladega was winning the numbers game, so we were going to have to stay fresh and not make mistakes. We made mistakes, but we bent and didn’t break once we made the mistakes. We gave them great field position and defensively we came out and made some stops and did some good things. Special teams we have to work on. We have to work on kick off coverage and punt coverage. That is some thing that will be definitely added to the practice schedule with a little more emphasis than it has in the past week. It is a big win for the program again. It is the second year in a row playing a very good Talladega team. They are getting better every year.”

The Bulldogs didn’t waste any time scoring their first points of 2011. On the second play of their first possession Taylor Garrett connected with Josh Taylor for a 70-yard touchdown. Garrett connected Jalen Whestone for the two-point conversion to make it 8-0.

“Josh and I have that connection,” Taylor Garrett said. “I know how he runs his routes, so if he runs his routes right, the ball is going to be placed where he is, because I know how he runs them.”

CJ Lynch returned the ensuing kick off 74-yards to the Winterboro 15-yard line. On the first play of the drive LaDerrick Stamps fumbled and Garrett was there to fall on it to give the ball back to the Bulldogs.

Talladega finally got on the board with 1:05 remaining in the quarter. The Bulldogs gave the Tigers a short field to work with after Curtavious Gray fumbled to give Talladega the ball at the Winterboro 33-yard line. Jackson Bailey put three points on the board for the Tigers as he connected from 24 yards out to cut the Winterboro lead to 8-3.

On the Bulldogs next possession Taylor fumble the football and Lynch picked up the football and sprinted 75-yard touchdown. The Bailey extra point attempt was good to make it 10-8 with 9:52 left before halftime.

After forcing a Bulldog punt, Talladega put together a 10-play, 73-yard drive for a touchdown. Zack Spratlin connected with Dominic Johnson for 33-yards to the Winterboro 42-yard line. Carlos Turner took a screen pass 13-yard to the Winterboro 26-yard line. Stamps went around left in for a 15-yard gain to the Bulldogs 9-yard line. A few plays later Javion McCoy bulldozed his way into the end zone from 1-yard out. The extra point attempt went wide right to make it 16-8 with 3:10 remaining.

Winterboro responded quickly as the drove down the field 75-yards for a touchdown. Garrett connected with Taylor for a 64-yard touchdown. Taylor converted the two point conversion to tie the game at 16-16 with 1:10 remaining in the half.

The Bulldogs recovered an onside kick at the Talladega 40-yard line on the ensuing kick off to give themselves one more chance to take the lead going into halftime. Taylor connected with sophomore Cedric McKenzie for a 16-yard gain. A few plays later Taylor found his way into the end zone as he ran over a couple of Tiger defenders as rumbled in from 12-yards out to 24-16 with 30.9 left before the half.

“When it is time to make a play, I feel like I want to be the one to make the play,” Taylor said. “Coach told me that we didn’t have anymore timeouts, so you need to run out of bounds. I was like, 'no, coach if anything get in my way I am going in.' I looked at the clock, and there was about 30 seconds left, and I said it is do or die right here, so I lowered my head and got in the end zone.”

The Bulldogs picked up where they left off in the second half. Winterboro took advantage of a short field as they put together a 5-play, 44-yard drive together for a touchdown. The key play of the drive was a 25-yard hook up between Garrett and McKenzie to the Talladega 15-yard line. Gray did the rest as he rushed for 8 yards, then he rumbled in from 7 yards out for the touchdown. The 2-point conversion failed to make it 30-16 7:20 remaining in the third quarter.

For the second year in a row, Taylor went over 200 yards against Talladega. The senior recorded 254 all purpose yards and three touchdowns.

“I told the team before the game don’t take anything for granted,” Taylor said. “There are kids born every day that wish they had our athletic ability. I told them every time we come out here to go hard every play, and I bet we come out on top. That is what I told them, and they listened to me.”

Read more:The Daily Home - Winterboro too much for Dega

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