Bulldogs take a bite out of Trojans, 35-7

The Dyersburg Trojans hit the road on Friday night when the black and gold squad traveled to Milan for a district matchup with the No. 2-ranked Bulldogs.

Despite great effort shown by the Trojans, Dyersburg fell to the top-ranked Bulldogs 35-7 in a game that was much closer than the final score might indicate.

"We have a great bunch of kids, and they really played hard tonight, but we just came up short," said Trojan head coach Bart Stowe. "We are going to keep working hard, we had opportunities, but we need to be more consistent."

The Bulldogs moved the ball well on their opening drive, picking up big first downs on third-and-long situations nearly the entire drive.

After allowing the Bulldogs to march deep inside Dyersburg territory, the Trojans defense stood tall on the three straight plays, which forced a fourth-and-four situation.

Unfortunately for Trojan fans, the Milan quarterback connected with Dominique Moore for a 36-yard touchdown strike, which gave the Bulldogs an early 7-0 advantage.

The Trojan offense never could get going on Friday night, mostly due to the swarming Bulldogs defense, which held standout tailback Xavier Taylor to just 61 yards on 14 carries.

"We fought it out tonight, but we need to be more consistent on offense, and we need to generate more points," said Stowe.

Milan stretched their lead to 14-0 just two minutes into the second quarter on a 6-yard run up the middle by Jobronski Gilbert, which capped off an 84-yard drive.

The two squads' defenses continued to battle it out in the second quarter, but the Trojans found life after a 40-yard scamper by Taylor set the Dyersburg up with a first down deep inside Bulldog territory.

The Trojans moved the ball down to the Bulldogs 9-yard line before Milan stepped up and forced a fourth down with just under two minutes left in the first half.

After a brief timeout to think things over, the Trojans decided to go for it on fourth down, which worked out great for Dyersburg fans, as Brown scrambled out of the pocket and found a wide-open Tyler Lyons in the back of the end zone for the touchdown.

Down just 14-7 going into the halftime break, the Trojans had a lot to be proud of going into the intermission.

"Defense played well tonight, they came up with some big stops at crucial times," said Stowe. "They work hard, hats off to the kids and coaches, defense really did a good job."

Neither squad could do much in the third quarter, with both defenses playing great late in the game.

The Trojans held the Bulldogs scoreless in the third quarter until Gilbert broke three tackles and sprinted 73 yards for his second touchdown of the game, which pushed the Milan lead to 21-7 going into the final quarter of play.

Dyersburg still could not get any kind of rhythm going on the offensive side of the ball, as they saw their hopes of a huge upset fade away.

The Bulldogs added two more rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter, as they cruised to a 35-7 victory over the Trojans.

"We fought hard, but we just didn't score enough," said Stowe. "We come back to practice Monday and we have to go to work."

The Trojans held their heads high after the game, knowing that their hopes for a playoff berth are still very realistic going into the final two weeks of the season.

Dyersburg will travel to Jackson North Side next Friday for a quick matchup with the Indians before their huge game against Haywood County in the final week of the regular season.

"These final two weeks will have a lot to do with the playoffs," said Stowe. "We still have an opportunity, and we never quit because we are Dyersburg and we have lots of pride."