Devildogs win Dog Bowl, headed to playoffs

By Rick Veazey, Contributing Writer:

The Devildogs finished their regular season at Berea on Friday night. After last week's win at Eastside, the Devildogs needed a win against Berea and an Emerald victory at Eastside in order to have a shot at the playoffs. The Bulldogs hoped that having Stevie Williams back would help them to win their first region game of the year.

Game Recap:

Berea stopped the Devildogs on their first possession forcing a punt and then moving down the field with Williams leading the way and scoring with 5 minutes left in the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead. The Devildogs answered with a drive ending in a Gomia-to-Young TD pass with only seconds left in the first quarter. The extra point gave the Devildogs a 7-6 lead.

The Devildogs were able to adjust and slow down Berea's running attack. With Berea's defense concentrating on stopping Zay Terry, the Devildogs took advantage with Gomia faking a handoff to Terry and scoring with 5:57 left in the half. 

Williams scored his second touchdown in the third quarter, but the two point conversion came up short to allowing the Devildogs to keep the lead, 14-12. The Devildogs put together another nice drive in the third quarter and Zay Terry scored with 11:12 left in the game to give the Devildogs a 21-12 lead.

A Berea score with 8 minutes left in the game cut the Devildog lead to 21-19. Zay Terry had his best run of the night moments later with a 56-yard pickup. The Devildogs moved the ball to the two yard line and had a chance to put the game away., but the Bulldogs forced a fumble on fourth down and took over.

Berea moved the ball down the field as time was running down and decided to attempt a field goal on third down at the Devildog 10 yard line with 10 seconds left in the game. The kick was low and the Devildogs took a knee with 6 seconds left in the game to take the 21-19 win and move to 6-4 on the season.

With two minutes left in the game at Eastside, Emerald trailed 30-27 but ended up defeating Eastside 41-27. With that loss, Eastside and Travelers Rest finished with region records of 3-4. The Devildogs will take the fifth place seed in Region 2 since they beat Eastside head to head. Playoff brackets will be announced later.

Photo galleries:

Fall Pep Rally Photo Gallery

Football at Berea Photo Gallery

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