By Jimbo Ward

For The Times

SWEET WATER – In a battle of reigning state champions, Sweet Water came out on the losing end of a 28-7 contest with 4A Thomasville.

Led by the mammoth offensive line-anchored by 300-pounder Cole Crocker, the Tigers took it to the Bulldogs early and stayed late.

The early bright spot for the bulldogs was Michael Thompson’s electrifying run on the opening kickoff 80 yards to the Tiger 12 yard line.

Thomasville forced a turnover on downs on the two-yard line and went to work on a 98-yard drive that ended with an 8-yard touchdown run by Myles Clayton. It was mostly downhill from there.

Thomasville scored again with 28 seconds left in the first quarter to take a 14-0 lead and scored again about 10 minutes later on a 10 yard bootleg by Tevin Watters. Thomasville took a 21-0 lead into the half.

The third quarter was a defensive slugfest with neither team cracking the scoreboard, but two minutes into the fourth, Eric Tate broke loose on a 66 yard scoring run to give the Tigers a 28-0 lead.

Sweet Water finally put points on the board with just more than a minute to play when sophomore Demarcus Gamble pushed the pile over the goal line for a one-yard touchdown plunge.

“We got beat in every facet of the game,” Sweet Water head coach Stacy Luker said. “They out coached us, out hit us, out blocked us, out tackled us…everything. Even beat us in special teams. If we are going to be a good football team, we will learn from this.”

The Bulldogs amassed only eight first downs all night while racked up 142 total yards. Thomasville thundered for 339 yards total offense with 266 of those coming on from the rushing attack.