Prep Football: Bulldogs roar in Wildcat offense

For an offense that had struggled to put up points in the first half of the season, the Harrisburg Bulldogs were able to light up the scoreboard in a 35-14 Week 5 Homecoming win Friday night at Taylor Field over Massac County.

With starting quarterback Noah Vallette out nursing an injured ankle, the Bulldogs reached into their bag of tricks and turned the offense over to junior Corbin Crim in a wildcat formation.

Crim only attempted one pass, but the HHS rushing attack did more than enough to put away the Patriots (0-5, 0-2 SIRR Ohio).

Junior Tyler Marler paced the Harrisburg ground game with 84 yards and three touchdowns.

Crim added 82 yards and a score on only eight carries.

"I think those guys have really good speed and I really don't think we had been able to utilize that," said Harrisburg coach Jason Roper. "Tonight Corbin did a really nice job picking up the offense in a week. I thought he did a great job at quarterback for us and it's definitely something we can build on. "

Harrisburg's halftime lead was only 14-7, but a big third quarter put the game away and sealed the deal on a fifth straight win in the series against the Patriots.

Marler got the scoring started out of intermission on a two-play drive with a 15-yard run to pay dirt. Nine minutes later he ran in his third and final score of the night from two yards out which extended the Harrisburg lead to 28-7.

Jake McGowan capped off the scoring with a 53-yard run late in the third.

Harrisburg amassed over 300 yards on the ground, including 78 of them from senior Sean Crisenbery.

Massac County had to turn to the air after losing leading rusher Dillon Stoner to a first quarter injury. Patriot quarterback Jay Benard completed 19-of-30 passes for 190 yards and a score.

Harrisburg had only put up 33 points over its first four games, but after a conference opening win at West Frankfort a week before, the Bulldogs (2-3, 2-0 SIRR Ohio) have rattled off two straight and welcome in Benton next Friday night in another home contest.

"It's nice to be able to get a couple of victories and to get a victory on Homecoming with a Pinkout game next week, it should be a big night," said Roper.

Massac County 0 7 0 7 - 14

Harrisburg 7 7 21 0 - 35

Scoring Summary

HBG- TD Crim 16 run (Owen kick), 1st 4:24

HBG- TD Marler 24 run (Owen kick), 2nd 5:06

MC- TD Benard 15 pass to Skidmore (Lawson kick), 2nd :09

HBG- TD Marler 15 run (Owen kick), 3rd 11:48

HBG- TD Marler 2 run (Owen kick), 3rd 2:40

HBG- TD McGowan 53 run (Owen kick), 3rd :33

MC- TD Costello 1 run (Lawson kick), 4th 3:31

Team Statistics

MC HBG

First Downs 15 11

Total Net Yards 247 310

Rushes-Yards 38-57 31-310

Passing 190 0

Comp-Att-Int 19-30-0 0-1-0

Penalties-Yards 7-50 8-50

Fumbles Lost 0 2

Individual Statistics

Rushing- MC: Dillon Stoner 7-36, Jay Benard 10-4, Jared Lamb 8-20, Brock Costello 9-8. HBG- Tylor Marler 11-84, Corbin Crim 8-82, Sean Crisenbery 4-78, Jake McGowan 4-66, Lucian Hicks 1-2.

Passing- MC: Jay Benard 19-30-0 190. HBG: Corbin Crim: 0-1-0 0.

Receiving- MC: Micah Skidmore 8-109, Brock Costello 4-46, Miguel Guetierez 4-20, Jared Lamb 2-12.