LAPEL — The opening night on the Bulldog football field didn’t meet expectations as Lapel fell to visitor Hamilton Heights 33-7 in Aug. 20 area football action.
In preseason polls, the Huskies were named in the Top 40 of Class 2A, while the Bulldogs came in at 32 in Class 2A, but the Huskies were able to nearly shutdown the Lapel offense.
“Penalties hurt us,” coach Tim Miller said. “In the first quarter, I think we played very frantic.”
Miller said part of the loss was on him.
“I’m just being honest, got out-coached. We have a very talented team, and we’re just not where we need to be, and that’s on us as coaches to get them there.”
Late in the second quarter, senior Tyler Dollar scored the lone Bulldog TD on a handoff from quarterback Luke Alexander and went 83 yards for the score.
While the Huskies focused their defense on running back, Dollar still finished the game with 152 yards rushing on 23 carries.
“Offensively, we struggled all night. Everyone is going to try to bottle up Tyler,” Miller said. “We’ve got to be able to take advantage of other places, and tonight I didn’t put them in a position to do that.”
The Huskies hit Lapel hard, scoring on a runback just three seconds into the game, but the Bulldog defense held Hamilton Heights to only six points in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Huskies exploded scoring 20 points.
Halfway through the second quarter, the Bulldogs stopped the Huskies on fourth and goal, but the very next play, Alexander was picked off for a Husky score putting them up 13-0.
“We did give up a lot of points, but I though our defensive effort was good all night,” Miller said. “A couple of their touchdowns were blown coverages.”
After Dollar’s score, Hamilton Heights returned the kickoff for another score, going into halftime with a 27-7 lead. The final TD for Hamilton Heights came late in the third quarter.
Lapel is on the road Aug. 26 to face county and school district rival Frankton. The Eagles are coming off the momentum of a season-opening defeat of Tipton 14-13. The Blue Devils were ranked 14th in Class 2A in preseason polls.
In that game, Frankton out rushed Tipton 144-70 in yardage and edged them in the passing stats. Eagles junior Crew Farrell and freshman Nate Luzadder were responsible for the bulk of Frankton’s rushing yardage, and the Bulldogs will have to find a way to shut down the ground game.
