Bulldogs open with convincing win

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LAPEL — Already off to a strong start, Lapel looks to continue its dominance over rival Frankton Friday when the Bulldogs open the home portion of their 2021 football schedule.

Lapel won on the road at Wabash last week, 44-7. The trip was a late schedule change replacing Elwood, which was unable to play in the season opener.

The Bulldogs were dominant in their win. They scored all 44 of their points in the first half. Running back Tyler Dollar, on just nine carries, had 147 yards and four touchdowns. Quarterback Brennan Stow completed eight of 10 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. Nick Witte was the recipient on a 38-yard strike, his lone catch of the game.

Senior Will Alexander and freshman Rylie Hudson each had three catches.

Running back Kyle Shelton added a touchdown to go with 34 rushing yards.

Head coach Tim Miller thought his offense could have played better during last week’s scrimmage against Hagerstown. He got the improvement he wanted to see in Friday’s win against the Apaches.

“We were much better executing this week,” Miller said. “Defensively, we were great again. Offense executed much better this week.

“The offensive line was phenomenal in pass protection and run blocking. The guys we expect big stuff out of did exactly what they were supposed to,” Miller added. “I don’t know how many plays we ran in the first half, but it was definitely under 30 and we came away with 44 points.”

The defense backed up a strong scrimmage performance with another one. The lone Wabash score came on special teams.

Along with scoring a safety, individually, Coleton Kadinger had eight tackles. Anthony Prater had two tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Caden McDole had a sack and Eli Michalek recorded an interception.

“For whatever reason, and we haven’t put our thumb on it for over a decade, our offense tends to be momentum-based,” Miller said. “When we can get on a role on defense and they give us the ball back that quick good things tend to happen. They created a couple of turnovers and actually scored some points themselves. That’s huge for us.”

Kaden Camp hit all six of his PAT attempts.

This week it’s a battle against school district rival Frankton.

“The kids look forward to it. They know each other, and we play each other in everything,” Miller said. “More so, for our kids, they don’t want to be the group to lose to Frankton.”

The Bulldogs have beaten the Eagles 11 straight times. They have won 16 straight against Madison County foes which include 10 wins versus Frankton, three versus Elwood, two against Alexandria and one against Anderson Prep Academy.

The last loss against a Madison County foe was a sectional-opening 58-50 loss to Elwood in 2013. The last time the Bulldogs lost to Frankton was 2012.

With their dominance through the years, Miller doesn’t expect his club to look past their county and district rivals.

“Football is a different game. We don’t play 30 games in the summer and 30 games in the regular season,” Miller added. “These kids work 12 months of year for nine contests. To say they don’t take a game lightly, it’s factual.

“Probably the thing I like the most about this is February. You have 60 kids in a weight room, after already having a weight-lifting class, just working their tails off, pushing each other, because they have a game they are going to play in late August or September.”