Berryhill hands Bulldogs first loss of season

Muldrow‚s fourth-period rally fell short Friday night inside Aubrey J. Henshaw Bulldogs Stadium as Berryhill downed the No. 10 Bulldogs 28-21 in a District 3A-3 contest.

The Bulldogs (5-1 overall and 1-1 in the district) visit Seminole this week and the Chiefs (2-3 and 1-1) host Locust Grove.

Late in the opening period a 1-yard touchdown run by Ethan Stites put the Chiefs on the board and Aiden Horner‚s point-after kick made the score 7-0.

Almost midway through the second stanza Berryhill tight end Damarie Davis caught a 9-yard touchdown throw from quarterback Connor Payne.

Berryhill led 14-0 at the intermission. With 5:52 to go in the third quarter a 3-yard touchdown run by Muldrow‚s Trenden Collins and David Frias‚ PAT sliced the deficit in half.

A 12-yard touchdown run by Stites and Horner‚s extra-point kick with 3:29 left in the third period gave the Chiefs a 14-point advantage and with 8:52 remaining in the fourth stanza Stites rushed for a 5-yard touchdown. Horner‚s PAT put the Chiefs in front 287.

The Bulldogs trimmed six points off the deficit with four minutes left on quarterback Camden Matthews 9-yard touchdown pass to Collins but the PAT was no good.

With 47 seconds remaining running back Jacob Gregory ran for a 4-yard touchdown and Collins‚ conversion run ended the scoring.

“We knew Berryhill was a tough team, tougher than anything we had seen up to this point,” Muldrow head coach Brandon Ellis said. “They were probably one of the toughest 1-3 teams in the state, playing Cushing, playing Cascia Hall within seven, playing Lincoln Christian within seven the week before, so we knew they were going to be big and physical and we didn‚t hide that from our kids.

“We came out and got pushed around a little bit in the first half. The defense played well, holding a team like that to 14, we just couldn‚t get anything offensively going.

“In the second half we just tightened our splits down a little bit and challenged our kids and we took the opening kickoff and we drove it. We felt like we won the second half, it was just we ran out of time. But our kids never quit, that was the main thing and they kept on battling. We came back to within seven and now that you‚re in district play you‚ve got to look at those points also.

“Berryhill was as advertised but I think they left the field sore. I think our kids battled. I couldn‚t be more proud of our kids with the way they battled back. They showed that they had fight in them so that‚s promising.”

Collins rushed for 147 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries, Eli Crumrine added 72 yards on 10 attempts and Cody Gibbs (14 yards) and Gregory (4 yards and a TD) had one run apiece.

Matthews completed 8-of-13 passes for 59 yards and a touchdown and the Bulldogs‚ receivers were Collins (5 catches for 31 yards and a TD), Bobby Plank (2 for 26) and Crumrine (1 for minus 4).

Muldrow‚s leading tacklers were Gibbs (15 total tackles), Collins and Gregory (8 each), Denver Click and Will Stratmann (5 apiece) and Jerrard Palmer and Plank (4 each). Levi Bishop and Bryson Limore registered a sack apiece in the game.

For the Chiefs, Stites rushed for 148 yards and three touchdowns on 21 attempts, Payne completed 11-of-18 throws for 149 yards and a TD and Davis caught two passes for 56 yards and a touchdown.