SULLIGENT, Ala. — The Lamar County High School football team pitched a defensive masterpiece Thursday night at Sulligent.
The Bulldogs made a second-quarter 10-yard touchdown run by Lemetrius Williams stand up for a 6-3 Alabama High School Activities Association Class 2A, Region 8 victory before a packed house at Brown Stadium.
With the victory, Lamar County snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 4-2 and 3-1 in region play. The top four teams in the eight-team region will advance to postseason play.
Sulligent fell to 1-5 and 1-3.
“It feels really good to get this victory, especially in such a big rivalry game,” said Williams, a senior who has helped Lamar County beat major rivals South Lamar and Sulligent in his final campaign. “The defense came up really big. On offense, we did enough.”
Lamar County beat its biggest rivals with two offensive touchdowns. In the season opener, the Bulldogs blanked the Stallions 6-0.
Thursday’s game had a similar feel, and also resembled Lamar County’s 10-0 victory against Sulligent last year in Vernon, Ala. Sulligent scored first on a 20-yard field goal by Mario Casis. Three possessions later, Williams capped a 50-yard drive with his 10-yard touchdown run.
“This was a great defensive effort giving way to a great win,” Lamar County coach Ken Adams said. “The last couple of weeks we had a tough time making the key play. Tonight, we made several key plays. Each time Sulligent had a drive, we had an answer.”
The Blue Devils marched with authority on the opening possession. Starting from its 25-yard line, Peter Swanigan provided a spark with a 25-yard run. Sulligent also capitalized on a couple of nifty runs by Deion Jenkins to move inside the Lamar County 10.
From there, the Bulldogs defense stiffened. Jabarrus Buchanan and Tyler Sprouse had stops as Lamar County snuffed quarterback John Potmesil and the Blue Devils. Casis’ kick capped a six-minute drive.
“We started off with a nice balance and nice rhythm,” Sulligent coach Scott Marchant said. “After the first drive, we struggled to have some consistency. The turnovers also didn’t help.”
The Blue Devils were on the move again late in the first quarter. This time, Lamar County earned its first takeaway when Buchanan had a strip and fumble recovery on the Bulldogs’ side of the field.
Quarterback Dallas Cockerham then led his squad on its best drive of the night. Behind the running of Alex Wheeler and some option play with Williams at quarterback, the Bulldogs found the end zone. After Cockerham kept on a critical third-down play, Williams kept on the option and scored on a 10-yard sprint.
Lamar County’s two-point conversion failed and left the score 6-3 with 9 minutes, 22 seconds to play before halftime.
“We knew this was the kind of ballgame where the defense would have to make some plays,” Buchanan said. “We worked real hard this week in practice. As a team, we knew this was a really big game because it could make us 3-1 in the district.”
Lamar County’s defense rose to the challenge with back-to-back takeaways. On the next Sulligent possession, Spencer Martinez had a fumble recovery.
With neither team able to sustain a threat the rest of the way, Lamar County carried a 6-3 lead into the intermission.
“At halftime, we talked about finishing,” Adams said. “We talked about finding a way to make one more play. You could tell it was the type of game where a big defensive stop could turn the momentum.”
Lamar County used its ball-control offense to maintain the momentum. A rapidly played game only saw eight second-half possessions. The Bulldogs didn’t attempt a pass until the final minute of the third quarter. It finished with only three attempts.
Still, each team had its chance to score.
In the late stages of the third quarter, Lamar County drove inside the Sulligent 30. A 20-yard run by Landon Williams provided a spark, but a fumble recovery by Sulligent’s Juwan Metcalfe ended the threat.
Sulligent’s best offensive threat came after a Potmesil completion to Swanigan moved the ball inside Bulldog territory early in the fourth quarter. But the drive stall and Sulligent turned the ball over on downs.
Lamar County moved its next-to-last possession to the Sulligent 16. The Bulldogs churned out three first downs and took more than six minutes off the clock. However, an option play on third-and-2 and a pass play on fourth-and-2 produced no yardage.
Sulligent was unable to answer, generating only one first down on its final two possessions.
Lamar County finished with 12 first downs and 195 yards of offense. Sulligent had 10 first downs and 143 yards.
“This was a big step to go on the road and win a rivalry game like this,” Adams said. “Now, we move to the last month of the season and these games have meaning.”
Lamar County’s final three region games are at Colbert Heights, home to Lexington, and home to Hatton. All three teams are tied for third place in region play at 2-1.
Sulligent will remain in region play next week with a game at league leader Red Bay.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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