Priceville runs to victory over Randolph
Priceville continued its resurgence Friday night, running over Randolph on the way to a 42-24 victory in Class 4A, Region 7 play.
“I thought the Randolph win was a good team win,” said first-year head coach Chris Foster. “After the opening drive for Randolph, our defense made some adjustments and locked into their assignments.”
The Bulldogs as a team ran for 396 yards in the win. Jerry Burton once again led the attack with 274 yards rushing and four touchdowns on 22 carries.
For the season, Burton has rushed for 721 yards and 10 touchdowns on 81 carries. He is averaging 8.9 yards per attempt.
Randolph got on the board first using a three-play drive for 70 yards to take a 6-0 lead. Raiders’ running back Reed Thurman touched the ball on all three plays, including a 45-yard touchdown run.
The Bulldogs answered with a scoring drive of their own on their first possession. Burton had 44 yards on five carries, but it was the arm of Wyatt Hurt that got Priceville in the end zone. He connected with Jaxon Cross for a 32-yard touchdown pass and a 7-6 lead.
The Raiders put together a good drive on their second possession, despite losing Thurman to an injury on the first play of the drive. The Raiders moved the ball well and got the ball down to the Priceville 26-yard line.
The Bulldogs defense took over and came away with an interception by Hurt on a fourth-down Major Dwyer pass into the end zone.
The Bulldogs took advantage of the Randolph turnover and turned it into a scoring drive to take a 14-6 lead.
Priceville’s offensive line began to take over the game on this drive, going 80 yards for the score.
Priceville opened the second half with another scoring drive highlighted by Cross’ 6-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 22-6.
The touchdown was Cross’ second of the game and first on the ground. He finished the game with 72 yards rushing on five carries. His longest carry of the night was for 39 yards.
Randolph and Priceville would answer each other’s scoring drives over the next three possessions; the Raiders scored on a 57-yard Dwyer TD pass and a 1-yard run, while Burton would score on an 11-yard run to make the score 29-18 going into the fourth quarter.
Burton would score two more touchdowns on runs of 37 and 63 to put the game away for the Bulldogs in the fourth quarter, as their lead grew to 42-18.
Randolph scored the final points of the game on a 6-yard touchdown pass to make the final score 42-24.
“Offensively, we started putting enough pressure on them where they had to throw,” Foster said. “Credit to Randolph that they made some plays through the air, but that is not their strong point. I thought our kids did a great job of coming out and executing the game plan.”
Three Stars of the Night
- Jerry Burton: 274 yards rushing and four touchdowns on 22 carries
- Jaxon Cross: 72 yards rushing and one touchdown on five carries, 32 yards receiving and one touchdown
- Wyatt Hurt: 1/1 passing for 32 yards and onw touchdown along with an interception on defense
Priceville (2-1 overall, 2-0 region) will host Fairview in a region contest Friday night at Bulldogs Stadium. The Aggies enter the game with a 3-1 overall and 2-0 in region play and are coming off a 24-19 victory over St. John Paul II.