The Corrigan-Camden Bulldog suffered a 42-15 blowout loss on the road versus the Hearne Eagles on Friday.
A rollercoaster first half had Corrigan with the slight edge, but it was the Eagles that took off on both sides of the ball in the third quarter to pull away in the week-two district matchup.
“I felt we had it lined up and got out all of the mistakes, but we came out [in the second half] and kept making those mistakes,” said Bulldog head coach Brett Ratliff. “We cannot expect to beat a very athletic team like that. They took advantage of it.”
The Bulldogs will need to dig deep moving forward, as they still look to put together a complete game without such costly errors, according to Ratliff.
“We have to get past this. If during these game situations, they are worried about making these mistakes, we just have to relax and play good football for the entire four quarters,” Ratliff said. “We’ve struggled with that so far, so hopefully we can for these last three games.”
Eagle senior receiver Dereion Mitchell was the key playmaker for Hearne, scoring multiple times, and on both sides of the ball.
“We know how great of a player Mitchell was and we had some plans to stop him [at times,] but he broke away a couple of times for big plays,” said Ratliff. “My hat’s off to him and he will be fun to watch on Saturdays when he is playing college ball.”
Corrigan’s offense got things started with a draw by senior quarterback Michael Sullivan, plus a facemask that set the Bulldogs up near the goal line. The Bulldogs would cough the ball up on a fumble near the end zone and allow Hearne to steal an early possession.
The Eagle offense did not get far and were forced to punt deep in their own end zone and gave Corrigan strong field position. However, the Eagle defense bounced back with a quick interception in the red zone.
Sullivan quickly responded on defense, tracking down an interception to put Corrigan up again inside the red zone going into the second quarter.
An offensive penalty later set up a fourth-and-goal for Corrigan, which was a fake field goal attempt. Bulldog sophomore quarterback William Ratliff instead found junior tight end Tahj Thomas in the end zone for the unexpected touchdown to grab an early 7-0 lead.
Unfortunately, Thomas would also catch an unsportsmanlike penalty for his touchdown celebration that helped set up a shorter field for Hearne on its next possession.
The Eagles would quickly take advantage, as senior quarterback Kemon Langham took the sneak all the way for a long rushing touchdown.
Corrigan’s defense blocked the extra kick and carried it all the way the other direction to keep a 9-6 lead midway through the second quarter.
However, the Bulldogs gave up the lead shortly after with a costly interception was taken by Mitchell for a pick-six and his first score of the night. Mitchell also caught the two-point pass to take a 14-9 lead late in the half.
Bulldog sophomore running back Derrick Reagie created a spark for Corrigan with a huge run into Hearne territory. Later, on a fourth-and-five inside the red zone, Bulldog junior tailback Mason Murphy got the inside handoff to make it first-and-goal.
Reagie quickly got the inside handoff to power for a two-yard touchdown to take a 15-14 lead going into halftime.
The Eagles started the third quarter with a short pass over the middle to Mitchell, who broke away to go the distance for a long touchdown, followed by the two-point conversion to go back on top by seven points.
Things got worse for Corrigan, as Sullivan was under pressure again and got strip-sacked by Eagle senior linebacker Jamariyon Benford, who took it the other way for another Hearne touchdown. This extended the lead 29-15 for Hearne.
On the next punt return for Hearne, Langham avoided multiple tackles and ran along the left sideline for another touchdown to further the lead by three scores.
Corrigan’s offense managed to move the sticks and kept a possession alive late in the third, but stalled out to turn the ball over on fourth down.
Hearne closed out the night in the final minutes with a deep contested pass caught in the end zone by Mitchell for his third touchdown.
Corrigan will play its next district matchup at home versus the Normangee Panthers, with kickoff set for 7 p.m.
