Dodge County uses strong start to dump Northeast
The Dodge County Indians jumped out to a big halftime lead and coasted by Northeast 36-13 on Friday night.
The Dodge County defense held Northeast to 17 yards of offense in the first half as it led 29-0.
The Indians improve to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in GHSA Region 3-2A play, while Northeast drops to 3-2 and 0-2.
Four who mattered
RJ Carr: The junior running back for Dodge County ran for 102 yards on 17 carries and scored on runs of 5 and 47 yards.
Erin Pitts: The junior running back for Dodge County ran for 103 yards in the game and scored a touchdown.
Vincent McCarthy: The Northeast running back ended the game with 38 yards on the ground and scored a touchdown.
TJ Miles: The sophomore ran for 35 yards and scored a touchdown for Northeast.
Observation
Northeast comes out strong in the second half: Northeast battled on defense in the first half, but the offense was stagnant. That changed in the third quarter when Northeast showed life. The Raiders executed an onside kick to start the third quarter and moved the ball down the field for a quick score to cut the Indians’ lead to 29-7. But Dodge County answered that score with a 47-yard scoring run from Carr to put the game away.
They said it
Northeast head coach Ashley Harden on the first half: “We came out extremely flat on the offensive side of the ball, and you just can’t do that against a quality football team.
Harden on his team’s play in the second half: “We came out with a little more energy, and we were able to get the onside kick and move the football in the third quarter, so that was a positive. We just put ourselves in too big of a hole to get out of.”
Harden on his team’s region matchup coming up with Southwest: “First of all it’s Southwest, and all the Macon teams really get up when they play each other. But this is a must-win for us because we can’t go 0-3 in the region and realistically hope to make the playoffs.”
What’s next?
Northeast faces Southwest on Friday night at Henderson Stadium.
This story was originally published September 30, 2017 at 12:13 AM with the headline "Dodge County uses strong start to dump Northeast."