By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
FALKVILLE - With a roster filled with young and inexperienced players, Priceville needed some early success in its season opener at Falkville Thursday night.
It didn’t work out that way, however.
Falkville scored on its first three possessions on its way to cruise to a 28-0 victory over the Bulldogs at Burl Vest Stadium.
Dustin Jump ran for a pair of touchdowns in the win, while Jonathan McNatt blocked two punts to lead the Blue Devils to the season-opening win.
Falkville’s defense took advantage of a young Priceville offensive line, recording eight sacks in the win. Priceville finished with just 36 yards of total offense in the game, including minus-56 on the ground.
Falkville came into the season with three new starters on the defensive front, but all came away with strong grades in the opener.
While Priceville was struggling with inexperienced starters - the team has lost 34 seniors over the past two seasons - Falkville was showing its offensive might, especially from a running game that reeled off a long list of big plays.
Falkville ran for 213 yards on 37 carries to dominate the game offensively. Jump topped the 100-yard mark on 13 carries before heading to the sidelines in the second half with an injury.
Jump didn’t return, but the Blue Devils’ didn’t really need him at that point. Falkville’s defense kept the Bulldogs in check to record the shutout.
McNatt gave the Blue Devils an early lead when he connected with Shane Ellis on a 20-yard touchdown pass on a 4th-and-13 play two minutes into the game.
Falkville added to the lead with a 47-yard scoring drive that was capped with a 2-yard run by jump to make it 14-0 with seven minutes left in the opening quarter.
Priceville had just five yards of total offense in its first three possessions of the game as the Falkville defense kept the Bulldogs’ running game bottled up early.
The Blue Devils’ lead grew to 21-0 two minutes later when Falkville’s special teams unit came up with a touchdown of its own. McNatt got his hand on Priceville’s punt and Trevor Mayer fielded the ball at the 20 and ran it in for another touchdown.
Falkville’s final touchdown came on a 2-yard touchdown run by Jump with 11:13 remaining in the third quarter.
The score was set up with Jump’s 41-yard run.
Priceville’s first serious offensive threat of the game came late in the first half when the Bulldogs drove to the Falkville 21, but ended when Jace Wilemon intercepted a pass at the 10-yard line.