The Corrigan-Camden Bulldogs fell short 31-21 in a tough road battle versus the Leon Cougars on Friday.
The loss moves Corrigan to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in district play. With four district games remaining, the Bulldogs will look to bounce back at home against Groveton and build on the progress shown so far.
“We have to limit the big plays, where they mainly scored. If we made them earn it in chunks, we did a better job. You cannot start the way we did and have that many penalties though,” said Bulldog head coach Brett Ratliff. “Groveton and Lovelady will likely try to up-tempo us as well and we need to be prepared for that.”
The rough start came as Corrigan muffed the opening kickoff return and Leon sophomore quarterback Pace Thomas immediately capitalized on the first snap, breaking free on a keeper. This gave the Cougars the opening touchdown and 7-0 lead.
The Bulldog offense was forced to punt just past midfield on their first possession, but Corrigan’s defense forced a three-and-out, which gave them another chance to even the score.
After starting with great field position, Bulldog sophomore quarterback Mikey Murphy threw a precise, back-shoulder deep ball to senior running back Derrick Reggie right at the goal line for the touchdown to even tie the game 7-7 still early.
Leon responded by speeding up the pace on offense with a big run, then a first-down pass conversion to junior receiver Keydrick Johnson.
The sudden, no-huddle power running overpowered Corrigan’s defense on that drive, as Cougar senior running back Parker Thomas finished on a one-yard touchdown run to regain the lead 14-7 late in the first.
Murphy immediately responded, throwing the same back-shoulder pass to Reagie to get deep into Cougar territory going into the second quarter.
However, the Bulldogs stalled out just inside the red zone and Murphy got sacked on fourth down to come up empty-handed on that possession.
Parker Thomas then exploded up the middle on a big run to get to Corrigan territory and continued to carry the load in the no-huddle offense. Despite Leon reaching the one-yard line, the Bulldog defense still pushed back and ultimately forced a field goal, slightly extending the lead, 17-7.
Leon’s offense got another shot close to the goal line inside the last two minutes of the half, but came up just short and turned the ball over on downs.
The Cougars did strike again to start the third, as senior Parker Veggeberg caught a long touchdown pass, making it 24-7.
Corrigan finally caught a break with Leon later fumbling a bad snap that Murphy picked up and ran all the way for a defensive touchdown, cutting the deficit to 24-14.
The Bulldogs made another crucial defensive stop and later found themselves near the goal line again in the fourth quarter.
On second-and-goal, Murphy connected on the rollout pass to Bulldog senior back Nemo Marshall for the touchdown and closing the margin to 24-21 with just under nine minutes left.
However, Leon got another good kickoff return and quickly moved the chains on the next possession.
Parker Thomas finished the possession, breaking free on a long run up the middle for a touchdown to put the game out of reach.
The Bulldogs will play their next district match at home against the Groveton Indians this Friday.
