Prep Football: Bulldogs shut out West Frankfort in SIRR Ohio opener
Harrisburg rebounded from last week's loss to Salem as Bryant Lester scored three touchdowns and Ross Rider added another three more59 for the Bulldogs in a 45-0 win over West Frankfort Friday night at Taylor Field.
Harrisburg (3-1, 1-0 SIRR Ohio) got on the board in a hurry as quarterback Ben Gulley hooked up with Rider on a 79-yard bomb to take a 7-0 lead and the Bulldogs added one more first half score as Lester found paydirt from 11 yards out.
Harrisburg tacked on five scores in the second half, starting with a pair of TD runs by Lester, where the senior scored from 16 and 28 yards out and added a two 2-point conversions, giving the Bulldogs a 29-0 lead.
From there, Rider returned a West Frankfort fumble 35 yards to the house and following another Redbird miscue that resulted in a fourth quarter safety, Harrisburg's Karmello Downey ripped off a 35-yard run for the Bulldogs.
Harrisburg head coach Matt Griffith said the message to his team at halftime was a simple one, but it was also a time when he challenged the offensive line to step up and be leaders.
"A lot of this game - for us - started up front. You could tell when the offensive line brings that swagger, that chip on their shoulder, we are off and running. When we are stale It effects everything. When you don't have a good 'up front' we struggle. We struggled with snaps, blocking assignments, etc. The message then becomes very simple, get back to basics and these guys know what they are supposed to do."
Lester finished his night with 16 carries for 128 yards and three scores, while Rider had 59 yards on six carries and a score, to go along with, two receptions for 106 yards and another score.
Downey finished with 48 yards on three carries, while Sam Martin had eight yards on four carries.
Tysen Satterfield had three carries for seven yards, while Braden Burtis had five yards on two carries.
Under center, Gulley was 2-for-7 for 106 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Harrisburg, who is tied atop the conference standings with Benton and Murphysboro at 1-0, travel to Massac County Friday. Massac lost its conference opener to Murphysboro Friday and at 2-2 overall and 0-1 in league play, Griffith knows Friday's game is one his team can not look past.
"Massac is not a team we will be looking past. We don't have the availability to look past any team in our conference, so if we don't shore up some mistakes, it's going to be a dog fight for us every Friday night."