By: Christopher Smith

Changing up the offense might have been what the Andalusia High School Bulldogs (2-2, 1-1) needed to get the season rolling as they blew out Monroe County 48-0 Friday night.

The Bulldogs switched between two new quarterbacks, John Harper Dubose and Jake Wilson, for this game.

It was a slow start for the Bulldogs after they received the opening kick off on the 34-yard line as Dubose got sacked the first play of the game for a loss of nine yards.

After failing to convert on third down, the Bulldogs punted, putting Monroe County on their own 24 yard line.

Monroe County couldn’t get things moving so they had to punt as well, putting the Bulldogs back on their own 36-yard line.

After an unsuccessful pass down field, the Bulldogs had to punt, but Wilson, Andalusia’s punter pinned Monroe County on the four-yard line with a 60-yard punt.

The Bulldogs struck first blood after gaining possession from a fumble on the four-yard line. Caleb Smallwood broke through the Monroe County defense and into the end zone to make it 7-0 with 4:38 left in the first quarter.

Monroe County held the Bulldogs to one touchdown for the rest of the first quarter and most of the second quarter until the Bulldogs got the ball moving down the field on the ground.

Roosevelt Weaver and Smallwood continuously moved the ball down from their own 32-yard line all the way to Monroe County nine-yard line.

Elijah McClain put the cherry on top with a touchdown run with 4:30 left in the half to make it 13-0 after a missed PAT.

After receiving another punt from Monroe County, Andalusia started moving down the field again from their 38-yard line, with 3:23 seconds left in the half.

Smallwood got a first down after running to the 19-yard line later in the drive and Harper connected with Franklin Osario to get down to the four yard line.

Smallwood then found his way to the end zone twice for a touchdown and two point conversion to make it 21-0 with 1:38 left in the half.

Monroe County was able to hold the Bulldogs for most of the third quarter, but with 5:47 left in the third quarter Weaver struck again, running in from the one yard line to make it 28-0.

Two mistakes from Monroe County led to another Bulldog touchdown when a bad snap put Monroe County on their own four yard line and then a fumble in the end zone resulted in the Bulldogs tacking on another touchdown, making it 35-0 with 1:10 left in the third quarter.

The Bulldogs came out strong during the start of the fourth quarter, when Smallwood rushed again to the end zone from the one yard line, making it 41-0 with 10:07 left in the fourth, after a fumbled PAT.

Ayden Amis came in as Andalusia’s third quarterback of the night, connecting with DiAndre Sheridan moving the Bulldogs to the 10-yard line.

The Bulldogs scored their last touchdown of the night when Sheridan ran straight up the middle into the end zone to make it 48-0 with 2:08 left in the game.

“I think we did really well,” Head coach Trent Taylor said. “I mean every time you have a new offense you sputter a little bit, but I thought John Harper and Jake did a great job. We just have to keep working on it.”

Taylor said that he will probably stick with this offense.

“I don’t have any doubts that we will change,” Taylor said. “I think this offense gives us the best opportunity. We have a man who was an allstate running back last year and now we can hand him the ball deep enough in the back field where he can see what’s going on and make some good things happen.”

Monroe County head coach and former Andalusia coach, Marshall Locke wished that he could have come back to his former school on a better note.

“I wish it could have been on a better note, we just made way too many mistakes,” Locke said. “We gave them a short field all night and you can’t do that against a good ball club. If we could have called it quits in the first quarter we would have been all right, but you gotta play four quarters.”

The Bulldogs will travel to Hillcrest-Evergreen for another region matchup next week.