Sweet Water coach Stacy Luker was all smiles after Friday night’s game against McIntosh. He should be. The Bulldogs have scored 97 unanswered points so far in the AHSAA, Class 1A playoffs on their way to Round 3.

The Bulldogs (11-1) will travel next week to take on Brantley in one of the most anticipated match-ups of the season, but to earn the trip they first had to take care of business at home – which they did in usual Sweet Water fashion, routing the demons 48-0.

Sweet Water racked up 424 rushing and passing yards over McIntosh’s 46 for the night. Johnny Lockett contributed 131 of those yards with Jeremy Landrum putting up 86.

The Bulldogs came of the gate scoring early. In the first two minutes, Johnny Lockett drove the ball into the endzone with a 29-yard run. Justin Waldrep added the PAT to put Sweet Water up 7-0.

The rest of the quarter was a back-and-forth tennis match. However, that changed in the second quarter when the Bulldog’s depth advantage took its toll on the Demons.

With 8:11 left in the second quarter, Lockett again found a way past the goal line. The PAT would give the Bulldogs 14 points.

A few minutes later, with 3:53 left in the first half, Sweet Water again found paydirt. This time, it was in the form of a Chris Landrum one-yard push over the line to put the Bulldogs up 21 points after Waldrep’s PAT.

A series of mistakes and penalties plagued the Demons on their next drive, which didn’t even survive a minute. Sweet Water was able to take possession of the ball with just enough time for another touchdown, so they seized the opportunity and planted Chris Landrum in the endzone for a quick six with just 49 seconds left in the half. Again, Waldrep’s kick was good, bringing the halftime score to 28-0.

The second half opened up with a bad omen for the Demons: a quick seven-point example of what they could expect to receive for the rest of the night. Coming out with a quick TD in the opening drive of the second half, Sweet Water’s Lockett took off for a 42-yard run into the endzone on the second play of the third quarter. The PAT brought the score to 35-0.

Later in the quarter, with 4:56 left in the third, Chris Landrum found himself in a familiar spot again: behind the goal line after a five-yard run up the middle.

In a rare miscue, Waldrep’s kick failed to land between the uprights, leaving the score 41-0.

Sweet Water opened the first and third quarters with scoring drives — why not the fourth as well? That’s what Terrance Sewell must have figured when he took a jog to the left side of the line to stroll into the endzone for the game’s final TD.

Waldrep added the PAT, brining the scoring to a close for the night with a game total of 48-0.

“McIntosh came out strong and had a lot of fight in them to start with,” Luker said. “I think our depth probably ran them out a little bit as the game went on. We’re pleased. Our guys played hard, and we are advancing. That’s the name of the game at this point: just getting to the next round.”

That next round will pit the Bulldogs next Friday against their toughest challenge so far in the playoffs, Brantley (12-0).

Luker told the team after the game that no team from Sweet Water has even won the state championship three years in a row.

“I want this year’s team to be the first,” he said.